


I Know, You Know

by RisemboolRanger



Series: I Know, You Know series [1]
Category: Death Note
Genre: Crime, Detective, F/M, Friendship, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2017-11-20 00:05:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 125,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisemboolRanger/pseuds/RisemboolRanger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gee Shidou, private eye, is working on her biggest case yet. Is she happy to be working alongside the world's greatest detective when it's really getting her competitive streak going? Or can she learn how to bend and embrace his deceptions?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Freelance Detective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Private investigator Gee Shidou has hit a dry spell at work. When she learns about a hot new case that the police are working on she begs them to let her in on the job... Only to have a nasty shock when she finds out that they've already enlisted another detective.

I’ve always found the concept of love really interesting. The way one person can captivate your entire attention for a period of time – the length of this period generally being influenced by how fickle you are and/or how much of an asshole the other person turns out to be.

And then it’s always intriguing _who_ you fall in love with. You may fall for a very handsome stereotype. Or maybe someone with a great personality that you normally wouldn’t look at twice. It could be someone who fits your own personal type. Or somebody that doesn’t have the same hairstyle, clothes or body type you'd usually go for.

This is something that’s always interested me. Mainly because it’s one thing I really don’t understand. I was thinking it again, watching my best friend and his new partner in action on the dance floor. 

Though to be fair, that wasn’t love. That was just pure uncontrollable lust.

Johnny Wells. My best friend and the biggest bitch you’ll ever meet. Sixty eight partners at last count. He’s only twenty five.

Actually, did current partner Zed – yes, that’s his real name – make the big six nine? Highly ironic, considering their orientation.

Johnny is as gay as they come (no pun intended). And he is _very_ good at being a queen. He wants everyone to know him for who he is. Back in school, he was bullied for his life choices and chose to hide from it instead. So I guess it’s nice he doesn’t feel that need anymore.

Maybe not so nice for the guys he gays up though. He’s already converted a scary amount of seemingly straight guys over to his way of thinking.

But gay, bitchy, in your face... he’ll always be my best friend. Ever since high school, we’ve been the in-between dysfunctional duo – not quite uncool but with enough flaws to gain our share of bullying. And that’s the kind of connection that runs deep.

Sat across from me were twins Laura and Kay Lucias. Neither of these were their real first names. Both had told me the real thing once and only once. They preferred to go by these shortened nicknames. Who was I to judge when I do the same thing? Like the twins, I hate my first name.

Though life works in my favour. I’m a freelance detective, which means I have a decent excuse for using as many aliases as I want. I usually take names from various media that I have a soft spot for. My personal favourite is Rin Asogi. If you don’t find that familiar, like the majority of the population, then consider that my name. If by some chance you do recognise it because you actually know of Daughters of Mnemosyne, then I award you double brownie points. For anything business related, I go by Gee Pendragon. Gee is my name after all. Pendragon is an old Miyazaki favourite.

To be fair to the twins, they're nowhere near as dysfunctional as me and Johnny. They’re actually borderline normal. They are how my mom always referred to me – quirky. I always thought that was meant to be some kind of back-handed insult, but apparently it’s a good thing.

Laura is the most normal of our little group. Pretty, pale and petite with long dark hair, bright blue eyes and full lips – her only hang-up is severe timidness. It makes her an easy target.

Kay is identical in appearance, except he usually wears his hair in a more crazy backcombed style. He gets constantly mistaken for being Laura’s twin sister. He doesn’t mind – he likes being pretty. He can be quiet also, but I know he has a mind filthy to almost Johnny’s standards. Laura will happily confirm him as a pest too. He’s always stealing her eyeliner, her skinny jeans, her favourite pink unicorn top... A boy in a pink unicorn top. I know, right? Bless his little socks.

“Hey, Gee, are you even listening?”

I looked up, a little confused, to see said boy and his twin both watching me. Oops. How long had I been gone for this time? I had a habit of going into what Laura liked to call my ‘zombie trances’. I glanced at my glass. All of the ice had melted whilst I’d been daydreaming. That was unlike me. I now had a cocktail that was half water, half vodka-Red Bull.

“Sorry, guys,” I apologised, picking up my now very diluted excuse for a drink. “I was spacing out a bit.”

“Let me guess... Over a case?” Laura smiled.

She was wrong actually. Amazingly, my thoughts had been work-free for a good few hours. Bully for me. “Surprisingly not,” I replied. “Just my everyday wonderings.”

“Does that mean it was over a guy then?” grinned Kay.

I made a face. “Don’t be silly. You know that you and Johnny are the only guys in my life and I can assure you I wasn’t daydreaming about either of you.” How creepy would that be?

“That’s not entirely true,” Kay pointed out. “You’ve still got Gibson, Chad and Kenichi.”

“Oh god, don’t say that,” I laughed. All three of them were police officers that I’d worked with in the past and still kept strong ties with. None of them were my idea of boyfriend material. “Gibs is a total stick in the mud, Chad’s an uncontrollable womaniser and Ken wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot barge pole.”

I couldn’t help grinning at that last thought. Kenichi Takano was my favourite of the three to harass. He was a decent guy, but he was married to his job and had no time for harmless flirting. Of course, I’d try and push every boundary purely to annoy him. He was like my very own Carlton Lassiter. Which made me Shawn Spencer. Apart from the obvious gender swap, I wasn’t complaining. Hell, that made me the greatest character on TV.

“So how is your case going?” Ever the nice one, Laura sweetly changed the subject for me.

“Fine,” I replied, then sighed. “Too fine. It’s too easy. It was simple right from the start. I guess I’ve been dragging it out a bit, because I haven’t got anything else lined up afterwards.”

“Tut tut,” said Johnny, rejoining our table. I wasn’t sure where Zed had gone. Probably to cool off.

“It’s not holding my clients back at all,” I defended quickly. “They’re holidaying in France at the moment, so it’s not gonna make any difference to them.”

“Charming. So they went on vacation while they left you to do the dirty work?” said Johnny.

I smiled. “That’s what I’m here for.”

“So what are you doing about the case now?” asked Laura.

“I’m just chasing up a few extra leads. Leads that I don’t really need, but it gives me something to do,” I replied.

I’d been way too spoilt with this case. I hated that. It just wasn’t a challenge. It could have had the potential to be quite an interesting case – rich old-fashioned family, highly expensive jewellery stolen, plenty of viable suspects – but it had been so straightforward I was surprised the butler hadn’t done it. One day, I _would_ be able to say that to someone.

“What are you gonna do after they come back from France?” questioned Kay.

“Guess I’ll have to go and harass Gibs again and see if he’ll throw me a bone.” Tod Gibson was the superintendent. He took his job very seriously. “I know for a fact he’s working on something big right now, even if he won’t tell me what it is.”

Thanks to Chad leaking a bit of information the last time I saw him, that is. I was pretty sure they’d be trying to catch the almost secret serial killer that was on the loose. Amazingly, the media hadn’t caught wind of any of this. The police were the only ones who knew about it – and me, of course, after twisting Chad’s arm a bit more. It didn’t take a very educated guess to figure out that this was what Gibson’s team were currently working on.

“When do they come back?” At least Laura looked sympathetic to my boredom.

“In a few days, unfortunately,” I sighed again. “Then I’ll have to start begging the cops for cases.”

“I’ll beg Kenichi for you if you like,” Johnny volunteered enthusiastically.

I couldn’t help laughing. I’d bumped into Kenichi when I was in town with Johnny once. Johnny had been _very_ impressed and refused to believe that he’d be near impossible to turn.

“Come on, Johnny; I’ve never been able to work any magic on him. I know I’m far from stunning, but at least I’m a girl and I _have_ tried my best flirting techniques on him in the past,” I joked. Flirting, who me? Please.

“Did he know you were doing it on purpose just to annoy him?” Kay pointed out.

“Probably,” I grinned.

“Honey, you’d have a much better chance of succeeding if you actually put a bit of effort into your appearance,” Johnny advised. Oh, great, unintentional bitch mode was on.

“Hey, I dressed up a bit for tonight,” I protested. It was partially true. I was wearing a dressier top at least. You could see the wolf tattoo on my shoulder blade, which was rare.

Johnny scoffed. “I could visit you while you were working and you’d be dressed virtually the same.”

“What’s wrong with that? It’s not like I have a dress code for work,” I pointed out.

The funny thing is that I’m actually more fashion conscious than I used to be. I like short skirts and big leather boots. I also like wearing unusual tops – though I have about three or four favourites that I always wear on rotation. I don’t quite fit a cartoon character stereotype for just one outfit, but I’m not far off.

“Of course you don’t.” Johnny rolled his eyes and proceeded to taking my glasses off my face. “And you need to actually take these off once in a while. I know you only need them for reading and using computers, so you don’t need to wear them all the time.”

I shrugged. “I get used to wearing them. I forget to take them off.” In truth, I quite liked my glasses. And they improved my aim if I ever needed to use the 9mm Browning Hi-Power I almost always carried with me. Not tonight though. Funnily enough, bouncers weren’t inclined to let you into clubs if you were armed.

“Well, you shouldn’t forget,” said Johnny, clearly exasperated by my ability to not care. “Make the most of what you’ve got. You have gorgeous eyes, Gee.” He leant forward on the table, staring into my eyes and grinning. “If you had a penis, I’d be falling in love right now.”

“Very funny,” I muttered, snatching my glasses back and ignoring the twins’ laughter.

He was right in one sense, I guess. My eyes are my best feature. For the most part, I look like my mother – plain and petite. When it comes down to my detective work, being nondescript is a plus. When I was on the police force, I was described by one of the junior officers as ‘pretty but unremarkable’. Another back-handed insult, but at least that one worked to my benefit.

I even hem it up a bit more by keeping my hair short and scruffy. My hair’s like my dad’s – a dark chestnut with occasional golden highlights in the sun – so all the more reason not to bother with it. I get my big brown eyes from my Auntie Maggie. I’m glad I picked up some of her genes. She’s my favourite person from my dad’s side of the family. Though there really isn’t much contest in it. 

“Guys are never gonna look twice at you if you don’t make any effort,” Johnny chastised. With his neat, almost black hair, floppy bangs and smart-casual fashion sense, it was obvious to anyone that he made a lot of effort.

“Well, I’m not really trying to get guys to look at me,” I said with a shrug. Guys were much more trouble than they were worth. And heaven forbid I’d actually have the time for relationships.

“It’s been two years since your last relationship,” Johnny pointed out, looking appalled. “Don’t you want to fulfil your needs?”

I burst out laughing at that. I couldn’t help it. “What needs? I have you guys if I want company. There’s nothing else that I need from a person.”

Johnny shook his head like I was crazy. Kay’s face was full of amusement and Laura just looked sympathetic that Johnny was picking on me again. She needn’t have worried – we all knew how often these types of conversations occurred. 

Johnny was always trying to improve my image, my love life, my outlook on things... I could never tell if he wanted to turn me into a princess or a whore. Neither was going to happen while I was still breathing. If I die first, I’m sure he’ll have a whale of a time picking the outfit I’ll spend the rest of eternity in. 

If he puts me in anything pink or frilly, then I’m coming back to haunt him.

Fortunately, I was saved from anymore grilling by Zed reappearing to claim back Johnny’s attention. Johnny obliged willingly, jumping up out of his chair. “You guys coming up on the dance floor?”

Both twins shook their heads – neither of them were big on dancing. I glanced once at the upside down time on Zed’s wristwatch and followed suit. “I think I’m gonna head off actually. It’s been a while since I haven’t really had any work to do. I may actually get a decent night’s sleep for once.”

“Shocking,” teased Johnny. “Well, sweet dreams then, missy.” He leant over, clapped both hands on my cheeks and planted a kiss on my mouth.

I grimaced. I wished he wouldn’t do that after he’d been drinking. “Save it for your boyfriend. You smell like a brewery.”

Johnny just laughed and started tugging Zed back over to the dance floor. Zed gave me a shy wave before allowing himself to be dragged away. I raised an eyebrow. Zed was anything but shy – his earlier performance with Johnny proved that. Then again, I have been told before that I’m quite intimidating. I’m not really sure how, considering I’m a good few inches below average height and have a librarian type look about me. Hell, I wasn’t even armed tonight.

I gave each of the twins a big hug before I left. The club wasn’t far from my place and it wasn’t cold outside, so I was happy enough to walk home. It only took about fifteen minutes.

What I call home is one of those tiny modern flats you sometimes get above shops. The accommodations underneath used to be a small estate agency, so I didn’t have to do much to make it into a suitable office for my detective business. Though I did install some blinds on both the window and the glass in the door. Save me having to feel like a goldfish while working.

As soon as I’d found out my keys and let myself in, I was attacked by a ball of crazy ginger fur. I nearly dropped my keys.

“Dammit, Kyo, if I’d had my gun I could have shot you,” I chastised the stupid cat, peeling him off my shoulder and setting him down on the floor where he belonged. He wound himself around my legs, purring like a chainsaw, whilst I locked up behind me.

He’s not actually my cat. I guess you could say he lodges here. Last summer, he’d wandered into my office several times when I’d been leaving the front door open to let the breeze through. I’d then gotten wise to it and kept the door closed. I bought a small desk fan instead to keep the room cool.

Though my efforts had been wasted, because it then meant that he’d sit outside, meowing for hours on end until I’d finally cave and let him in. He comes here all the time now – almost every day. 

He used to drive me crazy. He meowed too much, he scratched all the skirting boards and he just loved to harass me while I was working. He still does all those things, but now he’s grown on me – after all, I’ve named him (very unoriginally, I might add) – and I even had a cat flap installed so he could come and go as he pleased.

As annoying as he is, I do love the little fuzzball. He’s highly persistent – a quality I can respect in a person, so why not an animal too? He’s quite a bit smaller than average, which is something I can relate to. He’s not much larger than a kitten, even though he’s fully grown. Plus he’s extremely affectionate. I’m a sucker; I can never resist it.

And in truth, I enjoy the company. I’ve always had a habit of talking to myself. I don’t feel quite as crazy when I talk at the cat.

I would never have considered having a pet. Because of my job, I’m in and out of the office a lot and I can go for days without coming back here. Animals need a lot of attention – it wouldn’t be fair. Luckily for me, cats are independent creatures and can fend for themselves. Plus I have the added consolation that Kyo actually belongs to someone else – therefore, always having somewhere else to go if I’m being busy and neglectful.

I picked Kyo up a second time and dumped him in his makeshift bed in the corner. The twins had given me their old cat basket, but Kyo had refused it. He was much happier with the bed he’d made himself out of my old jeans. He was lucky I preferred wearing skirts.

“Night, cat. Be good,” I told him sternly, flicking off the lights and making my way upstairs to my flat.

My flat is pretty small – consisting of a bedroom, bathroom, half a kitchen and half a lounge – but it’s everything I need. And it’s definitely a lot more homely than my office. 

Johnny hates my office. He doesn’t think it’s very ‘personal’. I don’t think he understand that my clients don’t care whether my office is plain and basic or bright and lavishly decorated. Besides the general office furniture – desk, chair, filing cabinets – the only extra thing I have there is my mini fridge. That’s just for convenience really. It was a pain having to go upstairs every time I needed a snack or another energy drink. Which is often, since I usually live on them. The cheap ones, of course. I’m hardly poor, but I definitely can’t afford to live on Red Bull.

I know Johnny appreciates my flat a lot more. My walls are just plain whitewash and my furniture schemes aren’t very interesting – just basic black, browns and greys – but the whole place just screams that it’s mine. For starters, I have collages of photos covering the walls in every room except the bathroom (that’d be a little creepy). 

One of the walls in my half a lounge is covered with shelves of DVDs. Another wall is taken up by a similar arrangement of shelves; only this is my toy corner. I have varying degrees of cult action figures and figurines, ranging from a fully pose-able Beetlejuice doll to a highly detailed Freddy Krueger figure to Shawn and Gus Psych bobble-heads. Yes, I’m obsessed. I even bought an iPhone in a very unpractical move just so I could get the nice green Psych cover for it.

My bedroom’s even more cluttered. Two whole walls are completely obscured by shelf after shelf of books. My crazy circular double bed is taken over by a mass of cuddly wolf toys. In case you couldn’t guess; I like wolves. I also like to collect things.

My dressing table is cloaked by an army of perfume bottles. I like the sweet scented type of perfumes, not the spicy ones. I keep my newer ones on the upper shelf of my dressing table. The rest of it is covered with all the empty ones, arranged in order of when they were finished. I can’t throw perfume bottles away. It must be my most feminine quirk. Most of them just look too pretty and intricate to get rid of. So that’s yet another thing I collect.

Once in my room, I kicked my boots off into a corner. I couldn’t really be bothered to get changed into my pyjamas, so I just took my skirt off (tight skirts are really uncomfortable to sleep in). I got into bed and snuggled up amongst my wolf family, grabbing onto my favourite grey wolf, Jerry, that my grandpa had given me when I was little. He’d been the start of my wolf collection.

I closed my eyes and started to plan out the next few days and the unnecessary leads I’d follow up just to give me something to do until the Charlan family came back. I sighed. Things were going to get boring.

**XXX**

As I predicted, the next few days went by too fast. The Charlans came home, I cleared everything with them, the culprit was checked out and arrested, I got paid... Everything was nice and simple.

Unfortunately, I hate it when things are nice and simple. I like a case that I can sink my teeth into and really work on. Simple things just aren’t challenging. So later that afternoon, I found myself making my way down to the police station and asking to be admitted to superintendent Tod Gibson’s office.

“Hey there, Gee,” Gibson greeted, offering me the chair opposite him. “What can I do for you?”

“I needed some help actually,” I admitted, sliding into the chair more comfortably than I’d used to. I’d been in this office a _lot_. Though when I was working as a police officer here under the old superintendent, it had been more because I was in trouble again.

Gibson looked surprised. “I thought you’d finished the Charlan case a few days ago?” You had to hand it to him – he was good at his job. He knew everything that happened in this city, both inside and outside of the police force.

“Well, I diiiid...” I dragged the word out, trying to think of the least desperate sounding way of phrasing my request.

I needn’t have worried. Gibson could tell from my tone exactly what I wanted. “Sorry, Gee, I can’t help right now. We don’t have any cases to give you.”

“Well, can’t I help out on the case you’re working on now?” I asked, trying to sound reasonable.

“We’re not working on anything at the moment,” said Gibson, stony-faced. “I honestly can’t help you, Gee. There’s nothing going on. Nada.”

Gibson had a great poker face, but I knew he was lying, thanks to my inside source. Cough, Chad, cough. If I hadn’t known that already, then I might have believed him. Maybe.

“Oh, give it up, Gibs. I know you’re working the Kasagi killer case right now.” It was the name they’d given him (or her, I guess, though all the evidence suggested it was a male suspect) because it was the only pattern they’d found. The first few murders had been in the Kasagi area. None of the others matched up, but it still all pointed to it being the same killer.

“How did you even know about that?” asked Gibson. He looked torn between being annoyed and being impressed.

I fought the urge to smile. “I’m just good at my job.” No need to mention Chad. We didn’t want to get him into trouble after all. 

“No one outside the police force was meant to know about that,” Gibson grumbled. Oh, okay, he was going to take the annoyed route. That’d make this argument just a little more difficult. Oh well, I enjoyed a good banter if I thought I could win. I was sure I could win this.

“Well, technically, I’m not _that_ much outside the police force. I did used to be an officer myself, remember?” I reasoned. He didn’t say anything. Yeah, I hadn’t thought that would work. Time to try another tact. “Look, I already know about the whole thing so you may as well let me help.”

“Sorry, Gee, not this time,” said Gibson firmly “This is too dangerous.”

Well, hell. He was looking after me again. It was nice but I didn’t need it. “Oh, come on, Gibs! I can take care of myself. I need this case!” So trying to sound desperate was out the window. Who cared? I _was_ desperate.

“I know you can, but this is different. We’ve never dealt with a killer like this before. He’s ruthless, he’s sick and he doesn’t want anyone to know he exists. We have next to no evidence on this. If he catches you, then you won’t be found for a long time at the rate we’re going,” said Gibson sombrely. “I don’t want any more civilians on this case.”

“I know how to shoot a gun, Gibs,” I reminded him in a clipped tone. I was irritated. I didn’t need to be mollycoddled. “Last I remember, I was definitely more trigger happy than you.”

Gibson flinched and I automatically regretted the jibe. “That’s hitting below the belt, Gee.”

“I know. I’m really sorry,” I apologised sincerely. “I didn’t mean that.”

Before Gibson had become superintendent, he’d been working with his partner, Teddy Harper. I know, Ted and Tod... Cute, huh? They’d got caught up in a hostage situation at a convenience store. Harper had managed to get a lot of the shoppers out of the way, but no one had been completely in the clear. Gibson had had a clear shot at the crook and he’d hesitated. The guy had taken his chance and shot Harper straight through the back of the head.

I never went to Harper’s funeral. I couldn’t. The guy had been a total role model to me. He’d saved my life once upon a time and he was the reason I’d wanted to become a police officer. He’d taken me under his wing once I was on the force. Both him and Gibson had.

It was a lot harder on Gibson. I knew he’d never stopped blaming himself. It wasn’t his fault though. Who wouldn’t have hesitated? Nobody liked to shoot to kill. And shooting to incapacitate was always risky when the suspect was armed. 

That was about the time I’d given up on the job. I got a stupid amount of disciplinaries for reckless behaviour. I just didn’t care. My heart wasn’t in it any longer, even with Gibson taking on Harper’s role of watching over me. So I quit.

It was a shame I hadn’t held out longer. A few months after I’d left, Gibson was promoted to superintendent. I’d never liked the old one much (maybe it was all the disciplinaries). He’d moved on to another branch and Gibson had gotten the job. But then I guessed it was a good thing. If I’d stayed on the force, I wouldn’t be where I was now – doing what I’d always wanted to do.

“I know you didn’t. But I’m sorry, Gee,” Gibson repeated. I realised I’d been stuck in a zombie trance again. “I just really don’t want you in on this case.”

I sighed. Maybe I wasn’t going to win this one after all. He’d sounded pretty final. No more civilians. Hang on a second...

“Wait...” I held my hand up and looked at him suspiciously. “You said you didn’t want any _more_ civilians involved. What did you mean by that?”

Gibson shifted uneasily in his seat. He obviously hadn’t meant for me to catch that. Unlucky for him. “Actually, we... we already have another detective working this case.”

I just stared at him. That stung. That stung like hell. They clearly didn’t need me anymore if they'd hired another detective without giving me a second thought. I slowly got up, still not saying anything, and started towards the door.

“Gee, please don’t take this personally,” Gibson said quickly. “He was very highly recommended – Kenichi’s worked underneath him before in Karuizawa. I really don’t want to put you in danger on this one.”

“So you’re not letting me join because you don’t want me in danger? You feel guilty about Harper, so you took over looking after me because that’s what he did,” I said quietly.

“Of course that’s not it! I do care about you. I don’t want you to get hurt,” said Gibson truthfully.

“I know,” I said softly. “But that still doesn’t help me.” I walked out before he could say anything else.

My little blue Toyota was parked outside the station where I’d left it. I got in quickly, started up and drove furiously round to the other side of the block. I didn’t want Gibson to follow me. Once I was sure there was no tail, I pulled over and shut off the engine. I didn’t think I should drive home just yet. I was too upset and too pissed off.

Another detective? Wasn’t I good enough anymore? Was Gibson’s protective side really the only thing that was keeping me off this case? Maybe it was because my case total hadn’t changed much lately. I couldn’t help that I’d hit a dry spell. I could still solve the cases – I just wasn’t getting any. That was hardly my fault.

I grumbled and punched the steering wheel in frustration, accidentally knocking the horn and terrifying a couple of old ladies that were walking past. Maybe now I should move. I didn’t want people to start talking about a crazy girl in a blue Echo.

The only question was did I go home or did I call one of my friends for company and moral support? I wasn’t the best person to be around when I was in this kind of mood... I guess that answered my question easily enough – home it was. If Kyo was around, I could always complain at him. He was a good listener. After all, he never answered back.

Unfortunately, Kyo wasn’t there when I got back. Typical. Damn freeloading cat couldn’t be around when I wanted him. I went straight upstairs, grabbed an energy drink from the fridge and stuck on a Psych DVD. 

I could barely concentrate on it. That was a first.

I shouldn’t get this worked up about it. Gibson was only trying to protect me. But I was an adult. I’d been in dangerous situations plenty of times before, both during and after being a police officer. I didn’t need to be babied. And I was pissed as hell that he’d got another detective on the job. I didn’t care how good he was. The Kyoto prefecture had me. Why did they wanna use a different detective? Was I actually that bad?

Urgh, Psych wasn’t really helping me right now. I wasn’t even watching it. I ejected the disc and shoved in one of my many horror movies instead. I found it easier to concentrate on. Gore and crazy people fit my mood better right now. Yeah, I can be totally doom and gloom when I’m in a bad mood. You should see me when I’m PMSing. 

After the bloodbath finished, I put in another horror movie. Then another. Then another...

I woke up abruptly, feeling stiff and disorientated. The room was dark, except for the blue glow from the now blank television screen. Oops. I’d obviously fallen asleep during the last movie. I fumbled my iPhone out of my pocket (it’s a good thing they’re pretty durable – I tend to sit on mine quite a lot) and checked the time, wincing slightly at the bright screen. It was nearly three in the morning. Damn, I’d been asleep for ages.

I managed to drag myself off the sofa and into my bed where I belonged. How could I be so tired? I’d barely done anything the last few days. I fell asleep before I could think about it anymore, dreaming of outwitting and catching all the serial killers I’d just been watching in my horror movies.

When I woke again, this time at a more reasonable hour, I had a plan. I was sure that I _could_ find the Kasagi killer. Yeah, I’d had a bit of a dream epiphany. So what? I had experience in this area. I was a lot more familiar with the mind of a murderer than most people were.

I had a university degree in psychology and I’d chosen my modules in the subjects of criminal minds and personality disorders. Not to mention I was a total horror movie freak and that I even had a whole literary collection of serial killer case studies. I could do this! I didn’t need Gibson’s permission to do my own investigating.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out where to start. Kasagi, obviously. The root of the whole case. I didn’t know the exact addresses of the first murders, but if I could get hold of Chad, I was sure I could try and coax some more information out of him. That was the good thing about Chad being my old partner on the police force – he’d developed a huge soft spot for me. Actually, that was totally beside the point. He had a soft spot for any woman.

I was showered and dressed within minutes. When you didn’t care much about your appearance, getting ready was a cinch. I made sure I had both sets of keys and that my iPhone was on silent (and in my front pocket so that I didn’t sit on it for the millionth time). I pulled on my shoulder holster, fitted the Browning Hi-Power into the pouch, then disguised it with my black trench coat.

I was ready. More than ready. This was the first time I’d been excited in months. The Kasagi killer case was a challenge. I loved challenges. And I was going to get on this case, whether the police liked it or not. I had my starting point. I was good to go.


	2. The Kasagi Case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Gibson refuses to let Gee in on the new big case she decides to take things into her own hands, in the hopes of finding a piece of evidence good enough that he'll have no choice but to let her join the team.

I didn’t go straight to Kasagi. First, I headed to the centre of Seika, where I knew Chad normally patrolled. I left my car near the park and got out. There was an ice cream van near the children’s playground, so I bought two cones, then found a bench where I could sit and wait.

I know it sounds weird that I knew Chad would be passing through any time soon, but trust me; it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why. There was a group of girls from the local college that always came jogging this way through the park before their classes started at ten o’clock.

I’d picked up on this during hours of morning stakeout round this area when working a previous case. Unsurprisingly, Chad was also familiar with this information and had purposely gotten his patrol route changed. Where there were teenage girls in little shorts, Chad would undoubtedly be there too.

I didn’t have to wait long. Reliably perverted, Chad ambled round in less than ten minutes. He looked surprised when he saw me. Bless. He may have been a good cop, but he wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box. If any other police officer had seen me there, obviously waiting for them, they’d have been running in the opposite direction.

Not Chad obviously. He plonked himself down next to me. “Hey, Gee. What are you doing here?” See what I mean? That’s one dull crayon.

“Hey, Chad,” I said brightly, handing him the ice cream cone I hadn’t started eating. Was it a total bribe? Definitely. Would he see through it? We’d have to wait and see. “I’m just hanging out, I guess.”

“Err, thanks,” said Chad, happily taking the cone. Looked like he didn’t see through the bribe. I couldn't say I was surprised. “So are you not working right now?”

“No,” I sighed, trying my best to look forlorn. I knew Chad was a total guy and a sucker for the whole damsel in distress thing. “There’s no cases for me. It’s so boring!”

“Aww, cheer up, Gee,” Chad reassured, clapping me on the back so hard that I nearly dropped my ice cream. “You’ll get a case eventually. You’ve never been out of work for long.”

Three days felt like way too long a time for me. “I know.” I lowered my voice. “If only I could get onto the Kasagi killer case...”

Chad’s eyebrows pulled into a frown. “Hey, you haven’t mentioned that to Gibs, have you? ‘Cause he’d totally know I told you.” I didn’t blame him for being worried about that. Gibson could be scary when he wanted to be.

“Of course I didn’t,” I lied, glad I’d bought him an ice cream for compensation. “I was actually hoping to do a little investigating myself... Then if I come up with any evidence, I can act like I found out about the killer on my own.”

Chad was still frowning, though this time in concentration. “I guess that could work,” he said, looking happier. He obviously couldn’t see the zillions of holes my plan would have if it had been true. “At least it would keep me out of trouble.”

“Exactly,” I agreed, acting as if that had been my primary motive the whole time. Okay, I really didn’t want to get him into trouble... But my real reason was that I still needed more information.

Our conversation was interrupted by the college joggers passing through. Geez, everything was bouncing. Didn’t they know that sports bras were invented for this kind of thing? No wonder Chad changed his police route.

“Morning, girls,” he greeted them cheerfully.

They all started giggling and a few of them said ‘hi’ in response. Huh. Guess they didn’t mind him being a total pervert. That aside, I guess he is a good-looking guy. He’s the stereotypical build for a cop – tall and not too muscled, but definitely toned. And with his floppy dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and stubbly but perfect face, he could totally pass for a friggin’ model too.

“Earth to Chad!” I said pointedly.

“Oh. Sorry, Gee,” he grinned sheepishly, pulling himself out of the clouds. “So you’re gonna do some investigating on your own?”

“I’m hoping to. But I actually need some more information first,” I hinted, not too subtly either.

Chad frowned again. “Is that why you were waiting here for me?” Wow, maybe he wasn’t such a dull crayon after all.

“Of course not,” I lied again. “I just needed a friendly face. You know I hate not being on a case.”

“Well, it’s true; you couldn’t ask for a better face than mine,” joked Chad. I rolled my eyes and he laughed. “So what exactly do you need to know? Though I’m not saying I’ll tell you everything.”

That seemed fair. Damn, the guy really couldn’t resist a compliment. “Just the addresses of the first two murders,” I said quickly before he could take back the offer.

“I dunno, Gee,” said Chad hesitantly. “It’s probably not even worth you going there. Both crime scenes were totally cleared. The one victim’s sister is even staying at his place for now. The other one is empty, but I don’t think you’ll find much now that forensics are finished with it.”

“It can’t hurt to look around,” I insisted. “That’s all I need – just these two addresses. Then I promise I’ll leave you alone.”

“Well, I don’t mind you bugging me as long as you bring ice cream again,” he grinned. Nevertheless, he pulled out a notepad, jotted down both addresses and ripped the page out for me. “You didn’t get these from me.”

“Yes, sir!” I gave him a comic salute and he laughed again. “Thanks, Chad. I owe you one.”

“You bet you do,” he smirked.

I’d probably regret that later. But right now, I was just grateful. I had my lead. I took the last bite of my cone and got up. “So what are you up to now then?”

“Back to work,” Chad sighed theatrically, though he still didn’t bother moving.

I laughed. “It’s a hard life, isn’t it?”

“Terribly,” he grinned and gave me a lazy wave, seeing I was ready to leave. “Later, Gee.”

“Thanks again. See ya!” I called over my shoulder as I started off towards my car.

The address of the second murder victim, Carter Burnham, was closer, so I headed there first. Chad had said that Carter’s sister was temporarily living there. Good. It meant I wouldn’t have to break in to have a look around. I parked round the block from the address. I prefer to keep most people from seeing what my car looks like. You never know who you may piss off into chasing after you.

I made sure to fish out my crime scene bag. It looks like a normal shoulder bag, but it’s full of all my important goodies – plastic gloves, graphite powder, evidence bags, scissors, scalpels, notepads and pencils... Anything that I might need for investigating.

I made my way up to the front door and rapped loudly on the glass. A young blonde woman answered – Carter’s sister presumably. She kept one hand on the open door and the other on the door frame. She wasn’t gonna let just anyone in. I couldn’t blame her. Her brother had been murdered in this house just over than a week ago.

“Can I help you?” she asked cautiously.

I glanced once at her left hand on the door frame. No rings. Hopefully that meant she still shared the same surname as her brother. I’d look like an idiot if I didn’t even know her name. “Miss Burnham?” I tried tentatively. She nodded. Great!

I pulled my old police badge out of my shoulder bag. Okay, _technically_ , we’re not supposed to keep these when we’re not on the force anymore. But they make you look so much more professional than just saying you’re a detective. Which makes you more trustworthy. Plus I didn’t want any of the police to find out that a female detective had been asking questions. They’d know it was me for sure.

“My name’s Rin. I’m a police officer.” I flashed the badge at her. There’s a trick to doing it so that the person’s eyes see enough for their brains to accept it’s official, but quickly so that they don’t catch the name. I never use my real name on cases, except within the police department. “I’m here regarding your brother’s murder. Please accept my condolences.”

“Oh.” The woman paused, as if she was uncertain how to phrase her next words. “The police have already been over everything and they haven’t managed to catch my brother’s killer yet. Do you really think _you_ can make a difference?”

“I sincerely hope so,” I said truthfully. “I promise you I’ll do everything I can.”

I felt kinda selfish. I’d been so desperate to get onto this case for my own gain, to satisfy my own boredom... I’d forgotten that the people who were affected the worst by this case were the victims’ loved ones. I now felt even more determined to solve this – with or without the help of the police force.

Miss Burnham looked happier with my promise. “Thank you. Please come in.”

“Thank you.” I nodded graciously and followed her inside. My eyes darted back and forth, taking in the whole room and picking up as many details as possible. 

The heavy duty bolt on the door was shiny and brand new. It could only be days old – there were no marks on it at all. There was a thin line of glue around the edge of the window in the door. The glass must have been smashed on the night of the murder. It had obviously only just been replaced.

There were five candles in this room alone. The disfigured shapes of them and the pools of wax on their plates suggested they’d been burning all day long for the past few days. Was Miss Burnham superstitious or did she just like the smell? Not entirely masked by the candles, there was the strong underlying smell of disinfectant. Seemed like she was trying her best to cover the scent of death and loss that forever lingers after a murder. 

Loud music was coming from one of the other rooms. I guessed it would be more comforting than the silence of an empty house.

I was pulled out of my analysing thoughts by Miss Burnham asking, “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“No, thank you, Miss Burnham,” I declined politely, still glancing around the room.

“Call me Melissa,” she smiled.

I met her gaze and smiled back. “Melissa.” I couldn’t see much else of use in this room. “I’m aware that you’ve already spoken to the police regarding this, but in your opinion, which rooms were disturbed the most from the break-in?” It was probably easier for her if I referred to the night as a break-in rather than a murder.

“This room obviously. And... _it_ happened in the stairwell. None of the other rooms were touched,” Melissa described. “But there isn’t any evidence now. Everything was fixed and tidied up.”

“Were the rooms in question cleared by the forensics team?” I asked.

“The forensics team cleaned everything and got rid of anything that had been broken,” Melissa replied. “My dad came and helped me to fix the door and replace some of the spindles on the stairs.”

I nodded. “Is it okay with you if I have a look upstairs?”

“Yes. Please feel free to check whatever you need to,” said Melissa. I saw the desperate look enter her eyes again. She wanted this case solved. “The stairs are through there. I won’t get in your way. Please tell me if you need anything; I’ll be in the kitchen.”

“Thank you,” I said again before she disappeared through to the other room.

I made my way halfway up the stairs before settling into a crouch so that I could inspect the stair rail. It was easy to tell which of the spindles had been replaced – they were several shades lighter than the rest of them. Four of the spindles were new. Another two above those were cracked and one of the lower ones had started to splinter. 

The murder had apparently happened here in the stairwell. From the looks of it, Carter and the murderer had had an altercation on the stairs and one, or both, of them had crashed through the banister.

There wasn’t any point in trying to dust for fingerprints. What with Melissa and her dad starting on renovations – not to mention all the police officers and forensics workers that had been in and out – any trace of the murderer would likely have been eradicated by now. Hopefully, forensics had managed to cover everything before the house had been disturbed.

I carried on upstairs and found what was sure to be Carter’s bedroom. Bedrooms were a good place for clues. If there was anything at all that would suggest the motive for Carter’s murder, then the most likely place it would be was the bedroom. Bedrooms were telling for all kinds of secrets.

I spent a good hour searching through every drawer, every cupboard, every paper tray... You had to hand it to Melissa – I’d been in the house unsupervised for a long time and she hadn’t disturbed me once. She either had a lot of faith in me or she just didn’t care as long as Carter’s murderer was brought to justice. I was betting on the latter.

After I’d searched every nook and cranny, I could see I pulled up the mattress. I hit the jackpot. Stuffed between the wooden slats was a wad of paper. I pulled the pieces out and skimmed through them. Yeesh. They were technically love notes, but I could hardly call them that. Love was _supposed_ to be something good and pure. This was barely borderline porn. No wonder he’d hidden them.

I sighed. My one find wasn’t particularly useful. Guess that was a sign for me to go check out the next address and hope I had better luck there. I shoved the smut notes back and replaced the mattress before making my way back downstairs. What looked like the door to the kitchen was closed, so I politely rapped on the wood. “Melissa?”

It took her mere seconds to pull the door open. She looked too hopeful. Damn. “Did you find anything?”

“Nothing concrete,” I hedged, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to disappoint her either. I didn’t think she’d particularly want to read her brother’s ‘love’ notes.

Unfortunately, Melissa caught my evasion and narrowed her eyes. “What did you find?”

I had to give her more credit. She was sharper than I thought. “Nothing of great help. Just some letters from his girlfriend.”

Melissa looked surprised. “Girlfriend? Carter didn’t have a girlfriend. His last relationship ended almost two years ago.”

I frowned. The notes definitely hadn’t been from that particular relationship or any earlier, for that matter. They’d been written on pages ripped from a notebook – the bottom of each page had been watermarked with the year and the name of the company. They were all dated from this year.

“I found love letters hidden in his bedroom. Can you think of any reason why he’d hide his relationship? Has he had any history of doing this in the past?” I questioned.

“No, not at all,” said Melissa, as if the idea was ridiculous. “Quite the opposite actually. He was always very proud of all of his past girlfriends. He’d show them off at any opportunity and talk about them to anyone who’d listen.” She laughed softly. “Some of them really didn’t deserve it. But he still treated them all like princesses.”

I bit my lip. Where was the justice in a nice guy like that getting murdered? “The notes were all signed with the letter ‘S’. I don’t suppose you have any idea who that could be?”

Melissa shook her head. “As far as I know, none of his girlfriends had a name beginning with ‘S’. We were pretty close, so I’m probably the one most likely to know.”

I nodded then ran a hand through my hair. “Then I think I’m done here. I’ve checked everything that I can.”

“Can I see the letters?” Melissa interrupted. “Maybe I can help shed some light on them.”

I hesitated. “I wouldn’t recommend it. I put them back where I found them, but they’re not exactly for innocent eyes.”

“Enough to make a nun blush?” Melissa smiled.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the analogy. “Something like that.” I then struggled to make my face serious. “Melissa, I’ve done all I can here... But it’s not over yet. I still have another crime scene to check out.”

Melissa nodded solemnly. “You’re trying your best. That’s all I could ask for.”

I felt an odd urge to salute her, but I resisted. No need for her to know she was laying her hopes on a crazy woman. Instead, I said, “I hope we meet again soon. _When_ this case is solved, I’ll be the one to tell you personally.”

Melissa smiled, giving me her thanks again, and showed me out. I made my way back round the block to my car, then drove on to the next address. I parked a little closer to this house, though still out of sight. No one was living at this address, so this was the one I was going to have to break into. I wanted my car close enough in case I needed to make a sharp exit.

When I got up to the house, I took several good looks around to make sure no one was watching. Once I was certain the coast was clear, I shimmied up the wall so that I could pull myself over the back gate. It’s practically a rule that it’s easier to get into a house from the back rather than the front.

I tried the back door first. Locked tight. Obviously. I’d give a few of the downstairs windows a try before I came back to it. Fortunately, the second window along was stiff, but not locked. It reluctantly opened after a few fervent shoves.

I clambered in and found myself in the kitchen. The room looked like it hadn’t been touched in well over a week. It looked like Elizabeth Montgomery, the first murder victim, had barely even been living here before she was murdered. The kitchen was obviously no help, so I carried on through to the living room. 

I could tell straightaway that this room had barely been disturbed either. Forensics always left telltale signs – it looked like they’d hardly done any work in here at all. There was next to no graphite powder left from checking for fingerprints. The furniture didn’t appear to have been moved around at all. I couldn’t see any indents in the carpet that you can sometimes spy when furniture hasn’t been put back where it’s supposed to live.

The lock on the front door was old and worn, but definitely intact. Unlike at Carter’s house, the murderer hadn’t needed to break in here. He’d been let in. Had Elizabeth known who he was? Or had she been the trusting type that would let anybody in?

The rest of the rooms downstairs showed no signs of upset, so I carried on upstairs. One of the pictures on the wall in the stairwell had been knocked crooked. The impact had shaken the one corner free of the dust that covered the rest of the frame in a thin coat. That was the first possible sign I’d seen of there being an intruder in the house.

It could have just been Elizabeth herself, but I didn’t think so. The place may have been dusty because she obviously hadn’t been home much in the last few weeks, but other than that, it looked like she was a bit of a neat freak. All of the other photos on the wall were lined up in perfect proportion with each other and to each stair. She wouldn’t have put up with knocking one out of balance and not fixing it. The murderer had obviously come up this way.

Of course, this was all speculation. But this was my job after all. I’d learnt that my hunches were right around ninety-something percent of the time.

I sought out Elizabeth’s bedroom first. The room smelt clean. Too clean. Like the weird smell you get at hospitals that’s obviously trying to mask germs and disease. Forensics had definitely been in here. But after a good once-over of the room, I still wasn’t left with many clues. The forensics team had cleaned and covered virtually everything here. The only sign of any altercation was the tiny hairline crack in the small photo frame on the bedside table. And who was to say it hadn’t already been cracked for ages?

I sighed, turning the photo frame over in my hands. This wasn’t going well. I’d barely gotten anywhere. I needed some damn good ideas before I could go back to Gibson. I gazed at the photo. Elizabeth and a guy who was presumably her boyfriend. She was only young – early to mid twenties at a stretch. She was mousy blonde and fairly plain. Said boyfriend was quite tall, handsome and of obvious East Asian descent. Now if I could find a name, then he’d be the next person I wanted to check out...

I unhooked the back of the photo frame so that I could pull the photo out. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a date or a helpful caption written on the back like I’d been hoping. Typical.

Going through the desk was my next step. It didn’t take very long. She had surprisingly little stuff for a young woman. No diaries, no photo albums, no letters, next to no useless but obviously sentimental knickknacks... But I did find something handy. A small strip of photos of her and her boyfriend taken in a photo booth. This time, Elizabeth had been unknowingly helpful. Written on the back in small neat print was ‘Me and Shou’, followed by a date that showed they'd been taken about eight months ago. I wondered how long they’d been together.

At least I had a name for the boyfriend now. Without a surname, it still wasn’t particularly useful, but it was better than nothing. I combed the room one last time, but I didn’t find anything more. Time to move on. I checked through all the other rooms upstairs. I didn’t spend much time on it – it was obvious straightaway that these rooms hadn’t been disturbed in a while.

I leant against the wall and pondered the idea. The only rooms that left any possible mark of an intruder were Elizabeth’s bedroom and the stairway. Which suggested the murderer had been let in and followed Elizabeth straight upstairs to her bedroom. Sounded dodgy to me.

Had it been her boyfriend? Could the motive for all of this really have stemmed from some sort of lover’s tiff? Very possibly. But then how did Carter’s murder fit into this? Did he know Elizabeth too? Had he been secretly involved with her somehow? Had the two of them been killed in a fit of jealousy?

Or maybe these two murders weren’t linked after all. It could have just been a coincidence that there were two murders in Kasagi on the same night. The scenes didn’t exactly match. Carter’s house had been broken into, they’d fought and he’d been killed. Whereas Elizabeth had _let_ her murderer in and possibly had some kind of rendezvous in the bedroom.

I chewed my nails absently. So what was my next move? I wanted to check out this Shou guy, but I couldn’t get an address without a full name. I’d have to look into Elizabeth’s direct family first and see if I could get any information from them.

What I really needed was to get access to the national database at the police station. Though I obviously had no chance of that when Gibson was unaware I was doing my own investigating on this. So instead, I’d have to settle for looking through the personnel records at the library and hoping I struck lucky there.

It wasn’t a particularly thrilling next step, but at least I had one.

I went back out through the kitchen window and pulled it into place behind me. As if no one had even been there... I hoped. I scuttled back over the gate, pausing only to smooth my clothes down, and made my way round to my car, pulling my keys out as I walked. 

I’d only just stepped off the curb when I sensed somebody behind me. I whirled around in an offensive stance. I didn’t have time to go for my gun, but I was sure I could do some damage with my car keys if I needed to.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, it wasn’t the Kasagi killer ready to take me out of the picture since I’d been snooping around. It was Kenichi Takano. That was the unfortunately part.

“Dammit Kenichi, you scared the hell out of me!” I complained, lowering my keys and trying to act as if I hadn’t been ready to use them as a rather poor weapon. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” he said pointedly.

Oh, great. This was the part where I was very likely to get into trouble. “Would you believe me if I said I was visiting a friend?”

“No.”

“Admiring the scenery?”

“Definitely not.”

“Well, it’s actually because there’s a little convenience store round here that sells the nicest hazelnut...”

“Gee...”

“Yeah, okay,” I agreed. Kenichi knew me too well. There was no excuse I could think of for why I was here that he was likely to believe. “Didn’t think you’d go for that.”

“Gibson told me you were asking to join the Kasagi killer case,” Kenichi stated.

“Right,” I hedged.

“But he obviously didn’t think you’d take matters into your own hands,” Kenichi continued.

“Obviously. Well, if it’s any consolation, I haven’t really found anything,” I said grumpily, kicking at the gravel.

“That’s _no_ consolation. What’s the point of jeopardising our police work if you can’t even find anything?” said Kenichi.

“Hey, I did find _some_ stuff out,” I defended quickly, changing my tune completely as I so often did. “I’m just not sure how relevant any of it is yet.”

Kenichi smiled, obviously happier with that answer. “That’s more like it. Now talk to me.”

I had to hand it to Kenichi. He’s used to how pessimistic I can sometimes be. One minute, I can be feeling pleased with my progress, then the next, I’ll have changed my mind and be thinking it’s all a waste of time. Kenichi normally knows how to goad me into thinking positive again. Exactly like he’d just done.

“Okay, in the first house – well, the second murder – there was a lot of disturbance. Carter and the murderer fought on the stairs before he was killed,” I described. “Yet Elizabeth’s house was barely touched. It wasn’t broken into. The killer was let inside and he went with her straight up to her bedroom, where she was then murdered.”

“And what does this tell you?” Kenichi prompted.

“Two possible things,” I replied. “Either Elizabeth already knew the murderer... or we have two killers on the loose.”

“You think that could be it? Two killers?” asked Kenichi sharply.

“I hope not,” I said frankly. “Having one killer waltzing the streets is bad enough. We don’t need another.”

“It wouldn’t help,” agreed Kenichi. “So what else have you found out?”

“Carter Burnham may have been involved in an affair,” I said.

Kenichi’s eyes widened. Now this was obviously something the police didn’t know about. Plus one point for me! “What makes you think that?”

“I found love letters hidden in his room,” I explained. “And they were definitely recent. His sister was real close to him, but she didn’t know anything about it. Apparently, he was real showy about his relationships. So why hide this one? There must have been a good reason for it.”

“You think this could be linked to Elizabeth’s murder?” asked Kenichi.

“Possibly... I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you yet,” I said. “But I’m definitely not ruling it out.”

Kenichi looked thoughtful. “I think you should go and talk to Gibson again.”

I groaned at the thought. “I don’t think so. He’ll have my ass if he knows I’ve been investigating this by myself.”

“Did you really think you’d get away with investigating for long without him finding out?” Kenichi pointed out.

“Well, no,” I admitted. “I was going to go back to him anyway and ask again to be put on the case. I just wanted to go back with more information than this.”

“You’ve got enough,” Kenichi reassured. “Stop being so pessimistic. None of us knew about the letters, so you already have that over Gibson.”

I couldn’t help grinning. Now that was quite a nice thought. “Thanks, Ken.”

His expression changed to one of irritation. “Don’t call me Ken. Now get going.”

“You got it.” I moved round to the driver’s door. As fun as he was to annoy, I definitely didn’t need to be told twice on this occasion. This time, I was just grateful for the help.

“And for the record I don’t think your car keys would do much damage as a weapon,” Kenichi added, a hint of a smirk on his face.

I scowled. “Want me to try them on you and find out?”

He laughed. “I think I’ll pass. Good luck, Gee.”

“Thanks!” I resisted the urge to call him Ken a second time and climbed into my car. As he waved me off, I could feel a grin spreading across my face. Now this was definitely better than going to the library.


	3. On The Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gee's ecstatic when Gibson finally lets her join the team. She then receives an even bigger surprise when she learns that the detective already hired for the case in none other than the most renowned super sleuth in the business.

Back at the police station, I was admitted straight through to Gibson’s office, as usual. He looked surprised to see me. Typically, the moment the door was closed, we both started to talk at once.

I held up my hands and he fell silent. Before I basked in the glory of my discoveries, I did actually want to apologise. “I wanted to say sorry about yesterday. I was a bitch and I said some things I didn’t mean.”

“I appreciate that, Gee,” said Gibson sincerely. “And don’t worry; no harm done. I wanted to apologise too. My decision still stands, but I shouldn’t have babied you like I did.”

“That’s okay. You only had my best interests at heart,” I accepted, wanting to butter him up before I started to get desperate again.

“Exactly,” agreed Gibson, looking relieved that I wasn’t kicking off again. “So what brings you back down here so soon? I know you could have just picked up the phone if all you’d wanted was to apologise.”

I hesitated. “It’s about the Kasagi case...”

Gibson looked exasperated. “Gee, I thought we went over this enough already.”

“Gibs, please let me finish!” I interrupted before we could get into another argument.

He was ready to carry on talking, but he sighed reluctantly and waved me on. “Fine. Make your point.”

I smiled quickly, grateful he was giving me a chance even though his decision was apparently final. “I really think I could be of help on this. Serial killers are my specialty. I know how criminals’ minds work more than anyone else here does.”

Gibson opened his mouth to say something, but I held up my hand again. “I _know_ this case is more dangerous than normal... And I’m reminding you again that I can take care of myself. I carry my gun at all times on the job and you already know I’m trained in both kendo and capoeira.”

Gibson huffed, but didn’t say anything. I was obviously arguing my point better than I had yesterday. Of course, yesterday I’d started shouting and then stormed out. I wasn’t gonna risk my second chance at this conversation by doing the same thing again. Though my next point was the touch-and-go mark.

“Now please don’t get mad...” I started cautiously.

“Why?” asked Gibson sharply, instantly suspicious.

It was a stupid thing to say. I didn’t know why I'd said it. Whenever you tell someone not to get mad, they automatically get mad before you even say anything. Oh well. No way was I turning back now.

“I did some of my own investigating and I think Carter may have been involved in an affair,” I said all at once before he could interrupt again. “I’m not sure yet how relevant to the case it is. And I think that we could also be looking at the possibility of two different killers.”

Gibson looked torn between disapproval and amazement. He was thinking so hard that I could practically see the cogs turning in his head. He finally said, “You really think we could have two killers on our hands?”

He wasn’t shouting at me! Result! But I stayed calm – he wasn’t letting me on the case just yet. “Based on the amount of evidence I have, it doesn’t look like a very big possibility at the moment. But I don’t want to discount anything yet.”

Gibson nodded. “That seems valid. Now... tell me everything you’ve found.”

I recounted everything I’d already told Kenichi and more. Right down to every last detail. This was where I was _really_ fighting my battle. The importance of my discoveries would now determine whether I was going to be allowed on this case once and for all.

There was a long silence once I’d finished describing as much as I could. I sure as hell wasn’t going to break it. This was all up to Gibson after all. 

Eventually, he broke the silence. “Do you think there’s a strong chance that Carter’s possible affair could be linked to this case?”

“No,” I admitted. “Not a strong chance. But it’s a definite possibility. And I think that checking out Elizabeth’s boyfriend has the potential to be very useful.”

Gibson drummed his fingers on the desk. “Shou Tanaka has already been interviewed.”

“Not by me he hasn’t,” I added confidently.

We stared at each other for a while until Gibson finally sighed. “You’re not gonna let this go, are you?”

I smiled. “Not a chance in hell.”

I thought I saw a hint of a return smile, but he controlled his expression before I could be sure. “Fine. You’re on the case. I’d prefer you to be investigating alongside the police, rather than running around doing it on your own.”

I beamed at him. “Thanks, Gibs, you’re the best!” I leant over the desk and promptly kissed him on the cheek. He actually looked a little embarrassed. Bless his socks.

He held up his index finger before I could get too excited. “There are a few conditions... Take a seat.”

“Okay, shoot,” I said, settling into the chair opposite.

“Well, as I said before, we’ve already hired another detective for this,” Gibson reminded. “So for anything relating to this case, you’ll be answering to him.”

Oh, yeah. I’d actually forgotten about the other detective... Damn, this was gonna make me competitive as hell. I tried not to flip out like I had yesterday. “Yeah, I remember,” I said casually. “So who is it? Anyone I may have heard of?”

“I should hope so,” replied Gibson. “I presume you’ve heard of L...”

To say I was surprised would be an understatement. “L? Are you serious; you got _L_ on this?”

L was known to be the best detective in the world, followed by Eraldo Coil and Deneuve. I always liked to think I was the healthy fourth. I wouldn’t have exactly said I idolised L... For one thing, I’m not prone to hero worship. And for another, nobody really knew anything about him, except for his case record as a detective. And I had to say, it was impressive. 

The simplest way to put it was that I’d always had a _lot_ of respect for him. And it made me a lot happier that he was the one Gibson had chosen over me for this case. It hadn’t just been any old detective – it had been the best. Gibson hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he was highly commended. I then remembered something else that he’d mentioned yesterday.

“Hang on, you said yesterday that Kenichi had worked for him,” I pointed out. “Ken’s really worked with L before?”

“That’s right,” Gibson confirmed.

“Well, he never told me,” I said grumpily. Stupid, secretive bastard.

Gibson just laughed at the sulky look on my face. “I wouldn’t worry, Gee. You know as well as I do that Kenichi’s hardly the talkative type.”

“True,” I had to agree. “Man, I’m still shocked... So you’ve actually met the famous L?”

“Not exactly,” answered Gibson. He saw my questioning look and carried on. “Technically, none of us have actually _met_ him.” He gestured quotation marks with his fingers.

“What; you guys have been doing all this over the phone?” I said, somewhat bemused.

“Close,” said Gibson dryly. “We’ve been communicating with him via computer screens. Almost like webcam, except without video feed. And he uses voice emulators to disguise his voice.”

“Wow, talk about paranoia,” I commented. 

Yeesh. I hoped I never got that bad. I had a fair few enemies of my own, but I’d never hidden away. They could probably find where I lived quite easily if they wanted to. The fact had never really bothered me. But then again, I didn’t have quite such a high status as L. I was willing to bet that he had a _lot_ more enemies than I did.

“It does make the situation a little... awkward to work,” agreed Gibson, making me wonder if he approved of L’s methods or not. “Thankfully, we had Kenichi call in a favour with L’s handler. Otherwise I doubt we would have been able to get hold of him.”

“Well, I promise I won’t be that difficult to work with,” I joked.

“I don’t doubt that,” Gibson laughed. “Right. I’ll have to request another meeting with L...”

“And by meeting you mean conversing with your computer?” I asked, unable to keep the scepticism from my face.

“That’s right,” said Gibson, ignoring my expression. “It’ll probably be best to let him know that you’ve joined the team as soon as we can. I’m sure he’ll want to know everything that’s going on. We’ve been feeding back with regular updates.”

“I’ll be allowed to actually talk to him, won’t I? I won’t have to wear a blindfold or anything?” The whole situation seemed a bit bizarre to me.

“Come on, Gee... A few minutes ago, you seemed quite impressed that we had L on the job,” said Gibson. “There’s no reason to start criticising his methods yet.”

“Fine,” I conceded. Sure, the guy was a great detective and everything, but I couldn’t see how anyone could solve all of their cases from behind a computer screen. And hell, it’d take all the fun out of it.

“Plus I’m sure he’ll be quite interested in talking to you,” added Gibson pointedly, knowing that would get my attention.

I couldn’t help but be curious about that comment. “You told him about me?” I resisted the urge to act like a high school girl and demand to know all that had been said.

“I told him that you were our detective and that he should expect the possibility of you working alongside us too,” Gibson explained.

I was surprised. “You _knew_ you were eventually going to let me on this case?”

“Not exactly,” replied Gibson. “I definitely didn’t know you were gonna run off and start investigating by yourself. But after our little spat yesterday, I knew you weren’t exactly going to be easy to deter.”

“You got that right,” I grinned, though the smile didn’t last. “Wait... You didn’t tell him I stormed out and basically acted like a complete child, did you?” Now that would be a great start to a working relationship with the world’s greatest detective.

“Give me some credit, Gee. Of course I didn’t. He can figure out you’re a child for himself,” Gibson teased, his eyes twinkling.

“Yeah, yeah... You can drop the cute act now,” I said, though I couldn’t help laughing. “Now what are you waiting for? Arrange this ‘meeting’ so that we can get back to work!” I copied his quotation marks gesture.

“Yes, _mom_ ,” said Gibson sarcastically. “Why don’t you go and grab a hot drink from the staff lounge? It could take a while for me to hear anything back.”

“Sure thing,” I agreed, getting to my feet. “Call me through when you hear anything.”

Gibson nodded. “Will do.”

I hurried out and shut the door behind me. I knew why Gibson really wanted me to go out. No one else was probably meant to know how he got in touch with L’s handler. I didn’t mind. I was curious as hell, but I was sure that I’d have more opportunities to try and find out. Right now, it would pay to stay on Gibson’s good side. 

Plus I wasn’t complaining about having to go and hang out in the staff lounge for a while. They had hot chocolate in the drinks machine, which I have a bit of a weakness for. It’s only plain – not my usual preferred hazelnut or caramel – but it’s easily the nicest basic hot chocolate you’ll find.

The staff lounge was empty, as I’d expected. It normally was at this time of day. Everyone was usually either out on patrol or too stuck into their paperwork to even consider a break.

While the drinks machine was rumbling up my hot chocolate, I bought a bag of potato chips from the vending machine in the corner. Seeing it had reminded me that I hadn’t eaten anything yet today. I tend to do that a lot. I’ll snack a fair bit when I’m at home, but I definitely don’t have regular meals. I rarely find the time. And when I do, it’s still just ready-made rubbish that you can shove in the microwave.

Armed with my bag of chips and my hot chocolate, I sat down on one of the cushy chairs. An array of magazines was spread out on the table in front of me. I ignored them. I don’t read magazines. I don’t like being told how to dress, what to eat, what to watch, even what guys to like... 

Next to them were a stack of books; most of which weren’t to my taste. Thankfully, my old copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula was still here. I’d been given double copies of it for my birthday the one year, so I kept the spare here for occasions such as this. I still spent a lot of time at the police station, so it often came in handy.

I’d gotten through a good six chapters, my bag of potato chips and an extra cup of hot chocolate before I was disturbed. I was surprised to see that my disturber was Chad. He came in and all but fell into the chair opposite me.

“How come you’re back already?” I asked.

“Didn’t I tell you I was finishing early?” Chad smiled, stretching himself out like a really big cat.

“You didn’t. And why are you back _here_ if you’ve finished for the day?” I said pointedly.

Chad shrugged. “You know how it is here.” He had a point. Even the lazier officers like him couldn’t seem to keep out of this place. “I wanna talk to Gibs before I go home anyways. He’s busy at the moment.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said.

Chad grinned. “You tryin' to get on the Kasagi case again?”

“Why would I need to? I’m already on it,” I grinned back. “I’m waiting for Gibs to get in touch with L right now.”

Chad barked a laugh. “I knew he wouldn’t keep you away for long. Congrats, Gee.”

I smiled. “Thanks to you, of course!”

“Aww, stop, you’ll make me blush,” he joked.

I rolled my eyes, trying not to laugh. “Chad, I’ve seen the magazines you read. _Nothing_ could make you blush!”

Before Chad had time to think up a witty retort, the door opened. It was the receptionist. “Gee, Gibson wants you back in his office now.”

I tossed my book onto the table and jumped up a little too quickly, making Chad smirk. “Okay, thanks.” Chad gave me the double thumbs up as I followed the receptionist out the door. I carried on straight through into Gibson’s office, trying not to look too excited.

I must have pulled it off, because Gibson didn’t seem to notice anything. He motioned for me to take a seat, so I took the one opposite him once more. What I didn’t realise was that he already had an open connection to L, because when his laptop suddenly answered whatever Gibson had said before I’d entered the room, I damn near fell off my seat.

Gibson raised his eyebrows, amused. I didn’t find it funny. I was definitely glad his laptop didn’t have video feed. “Thanks for the warning,” I said sarcastically, repositioning myself.

“Sorry, Gee,” grinned Gibson, still bemused. He pushed his laptop down to the end of the desk and turned it round so that we could both see the screen. It was blank, except for a large Gothic style ‘L’ in the centre. The theatrics were a little cheesy, but kind of exciting. “I’d like you to meet L.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Gee,” replied the laptop in a smooth but robotic tone.

I felt like I was talking to an alien. I resisted the urge to say something like ‘greetings, space invader’. I wanted to make a good first impression; not imply that I belonged in Arkham Asylum. Yeah, I know; I’m a total dork.

Instead, I settled for a totally lame, “Erm, hey.” Plus I didn’t like how everyone was throwing the word ‘meet’ around. Nobody was exactly meeting anyone in this situation.

“Welcome to the team,” the voice continued. It was hard to think of him as an actual person when he sounded so industrialised. “I hear you convinced Mr. Gibson to change his mind about allowing you to join.”

Have I also mentioned that I find voice emulators totally creepy? Says me, the horror movie freak. But again, I didn’t voice what I was really thinking.

“Yeah, I can be pretty persuasive,” I commented. Gibson snorted, but I ignored him. I didn’t really know how to talk to L via this stupid laptop. What did I say? That I was a big fan? That I’d love to beat him to being the world’s greatest detective? No way was I saying any of that. “But I’m grateful for the opportunity. I’m sure you’ll be a pleasure to work with.”

Gibson waggled his eyebrows at me. I flipped him the finger and half-heartedly looked around for something I could hit him with. Some superintendent... He wasn’t usually this idiotic. And here I was trying to be all professional.

Luckily, L couldn’t see any of what was going on. “As will you, I’m certain. Now, I’ve been told that you discovered further evidence to what forensics and the police were able to find?”

“That’s right,” I confirmed. I recounted everything a second time – in just as much detail as I’d given Gibson. Yeah, okay, I was trying to impress him. So sue me.

There was a silence on the other end of the connection until L finally said, “I believe you’re going to be quite valuable to this team.”

I just about burst with pride. Though I tried not to show it or get too carried away. I still had my own request to make.

“Thank you,” I said graciously. “I know that there were more murders other than the two in Kasagi, but I know next to nothing about them. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to hear all of the evidence that you and the police force have collected.”

“Certainly,” agreed L. “In regards to the murders in Kasagi, we’ve discovered no more than you have yourself. As for the other murders, there was one that occurred in Seika just three days after the first two, and then in Minamiyamashiro only a day later.”

So all four had happened in less than a week. That was pretty hefty work, even for a serial killer. “What can you tell me about the victims?” I asked.

“The victim from Seika was an unemployed, middle-aged male by the name of Umehito Sashiro. He lived alone, had no immediate family and, from the looks of it, not many social contacts. Even though he was unemployed, he didn’t seem to be in any financial trouble,” L described.

I knew what he was trying to say – that there were no suspects for motive to murder him. It sounded like we were lucky that the murder was discovered at all. Nobody should have missed him.

However, L seemed to read my mind. “The only reason he was discovered so quickly is because one of the downstairs windows had been left open. The neighbours noticed it was left open for nearly two days, despite the early spring weather. They received no answer from repeatedly ringing the doorbell, so they called the police to investigate.”

“Were the neighbours listed as possible suspects?” I enquired. Finding the window open could have just been a cover story.

“They were checked and cleared,” replied L. “Forensics determined the time of death. Mr. Kanji was sighted speeding in Wakayama near to the time. The photograph from the speed camera shows that Mrs. Kanji was in the car with him. That was the only crime they committed that night.”

Huh. Guess speed cameras weren’t such a bad thing after all. “What about the next victim?”

“A couple actually,” L corrected. “Jun and Miho Hirano. From the looks of it, Jun Hirano told his wife to hide when the house was broken into. He was killed first, after fighting back, and the police found Miho Hirano dead in the laundry cupboard.”

I glanced over at Gibson. He’d been quiet, letting me ask L all of my questions. He nodded, confirming the story. And from the look on his face, he was the one who’d found Miho Hirano in the cupboard.

“Any viable suspects?” I continued my questioning. 

“None,” said L. “They’d been happily married for years. No kids, a close circle of friends, both from devoted families... Everyone who was interviewed said the same thing: nobody would have wanted them dead.”

I frowned. So we had three people dead, but no one with the motive to murder any of them. “How were the victims killed?”

“The two from Kasagi had multiple stab wounds,” L depicted. “The three later victims all bore signs of fighting back, but they were killed more quickly. Each was stabbed in the chest, severing the pulmonary artery and causing the heart to fail.”

I mulled it over. “It’s sounding more and more like there _are_ two killers. Only now it sounds like the two in Kasagi were by the same person and the others were someone else.” I didn’t even want to contemplate the idea of a _third_ killer.

“It’s a definite possibility, though have you considered the odds of them trying to make it _look_ like there are two killers?” L suggested. “Our killer could have changed his style accordingly to make us believe we have multiple murderers on the loose.”

To be honest, I hadn’t thought of that. But it was a good suggestion. “It’s a fair assumption. So we either have two killers or we have just one who’s a little too smart for his own good.” I didn’t know which I preferred.

“Either way, it’s a little too early to tell. So for now, we will stick to the theory that there is only one killer,” said L. “If we discover anymore evidence that suggests otherwise, then we shall have to re-assess.”

I nodded, then remembered that he couldn’t see me. Duh. “Sounds fine to me.”

“Now I’d like to know what you think our next course of action should be,” said L.

I hesitated. I didn’t know what his course of action was going to be, but I knew what I wanted to do next. “I know Shou Tanaka has been interviewed already, but I’d like to check him out for myself. Then I want to investigate the crime scenes in Seika and Minamiyamashiro.”

“I have no problem with that,” L accepted. “You may be able to gather some new information.”

“And at least now we’ll actually know you’re doing your own investigating,” said Gibson sarcastically, finally interrupting.

I grinned at him. “How else was I meant to get your attention?”

“Yeah, okay, you got what you wanted. No need to be smug about it,” Gibson grunted. He turned to his laptop. “L, I’m going to give Gee the rest of the information she needs. We’ll be in touch if we find anything new.”

“As will I,” L concurred. “It was nice talking to you, Gee.”

“Oh... Yeah. You too,” I said, not sounding particularly smart. I’d kinda wanted to ask what he was going to be doing for the case, but for once, I held my tongue.

The screen went blank and Gibson closed the laptop. He turned back to me, smirking. “So are we impressed?”

“Marginally,” I smiled. It was a bit of an understatement, but I didn’t really want to waste time on the subject. “So... I’m hoping this information you’re going to give me will include the addresses I need.”

“Of course,” said Gibson. He jotted everything down on a spare piece of paper and handed it to me. “Here are the addresses for Shou Tanaka, Umehito Sashiro and the Hirano couple. Go to Tanaka’s first. While you’re there, I’ll clear you for access to Sashiro’s house, since it’s currently empty. There should be an officer there to meet you when you arrive and let you in.”

“What about the Hiranos’ house?” I asked, folding the paper and stuffing it in my bag. “Is anybody living there right now?”

“No, but you can go there tomorrow,” said Gibson. I gave him a confused look. “It’ll be pretty late by the time you’ve finished. Try and get plenty of sleep tonight. You’ll need it; trust me. You won’t be getting much now that you’ve joined this case.”

“That’s never stopped me before,” I pointed out.

“Gee, I let you in on this. Humour me just this once,” Gibson requested.

“Yeah, okay,” I agreed, getting to my feet. “Thanks again for the opportunity, Gibs.”

“You’re welcome,” said Gibson graciously. “Just take care of yourself. Don’t make me regret it.”

“I won’t,” I promised. “I’ll call you if I find anything.”

I was in such an elevated mood that, as I left Gibson’s office, I very nearly waltzed straight into the man stood just outside. “Whoa, sorry about that!” I apologised quickly before actually taking in what he looked like.

Damn, did he look shady or what? He was dressed in a perfectly pressed suit with a matching black hat, which was tipped so far forward that the whole of his face was hidden in shadow. He didn’t seem to mind that I’d nearly played bumper cars with him. He gave me a small bow and stepped aside, out of my way.

“Err, thanks,” I said hesitantly. After all, the near collision had been my fault. Not his. But either way, I didn’t really have time to be stood here dancing with this guy. I had leads to follow. “Sorry again!”

I shook it off and carried on out of the police station and back to my Toyota. It was a good thing I did so much driving around in Kyoto. I could find most addresses pretty easily. It was rare that I had to look one up. Shou Tanaka’s house actually happened to be quite close to where Johnny’s parents’ lived.

I parked out of sight of the house, as usual, and continued to the front door on foot. I had to knock several times before anyone answered. The man before me was barely recognisable as the guy I’d seen in Elizabeth’s photograph. His face was very stubbly and uneven, like he’d only made half an attempt at shaving. There were dark bags beneath his eyes and his hair was unkempt and in need of a cut. Elizabeth’s death had obviously taken a toll on him.

“Can I help you?” he asked, though not very politely. He stayed half behind the door, as if he was ready to slam it shut at any moment.

I flashed him my old police badge in the same way that I’d done with Melissa. “Shou Tanaka?” He nodded curtly. “I’m working with the police department on the murder of Elizabeth Montgomery. I’m aware that you’ve already been interviewed by the police and I know that this must be a difficult time for you, but I’d like to ask you some questions myself, if that’s okay?”

Shou wasn’t as cooperative as Melissa had been. “You suspect me, don’t you? Why else would you want to interview me twice?”

“Please don’t jump to any conclusions, Mr. Tanaka,” I reassured. “In order to solve this case, we’re simply retracing our steps to see if we can pick up anymore useful information. You are _not_ the only person we’ll be interviewing more than once.”

Okay, that may have been a lie... But I didn’t really want to have a door slammed in my face. 

It worked though, because Shou reluctantly opened the door all the way. “Fine. I’ll answer your questions.”

I followed him through into the lounge. He didn’t sit down – an obvious sign that he wasn’t giving me any open invitations to stay. I sat down anyway. Glancing around the room, I could see one of the reasons he wasn’t keen on having company. The place was a tip. Not necessarily unclean, but definitely untidy.

“So how long were you and Elizabeth together?” I began with.

“About eighteen months,” he replied shortly.

“And when was the last time you saw her?” I asked.

“It was earlier that day,” said Shou. “She’d mostly been living here with me, but she had to go back to her own place that day to pick up some more clothes and things.”

“And you can’t think of anyone that would have wanted to hurt her?” I pressed on.

Shou shook his head. “Elizabeth was... good,” he said gruffly. “She was nice to everyone. She didn’t deserve this.”

He looked teary. Oh, _hell_. I’m rubbish at dealing with emotional people. I tend to just offer them tea and then run away. I didn’t really have that option here. “Were there ever any signs of Elizabeth being with someone else?” I asked quickly, changing tact. 

It was almost certain that Carter had been having an affair. I had to try and chase the possibility that it could have been with Elizabeth – which would give a clear link between both murders. I steered clear of using the word ‘cheating’. Nobody likes that word. I should know; I’d been on the unfortunate end of it before.

The question took him by surprise. “No... Not at all. Why would you think that?”

“It’s just a possibility we’re considering at the moment,” I said shortly.

“Well, I don’t know where you got that idea from, but you can forget it. Like I said, she was a good girl. She never wronged anyone. And she definitely wouldn’t cheat.” Shou looked a little uncomfortable at the thought, but he seemed sure of his answer.

Damn. It looked like that theory was out the window. At least it had only been a small chance in the first place. It would have been a nice way to tie the first two murders together, but it still wouldn’t really have explained why Carter’s love letters were all signed with an ‘S’.

I grilled Shou with a few more questions, but I didn’t get anything else useful out of him. He was reluctant to go into detail and he seemed constantly edgy and guarded. Was it simply because he was still going through mourning or did he have something to hide? Yeah, I know that makes me sound suspicious as hell. But this was my job. I had to assess every possible variable.

What I really wanted now was to have a look around, but I didn’t push it. I knew what his answer would be to that request. I was lucky he’d even answered my questions in more than one syllable. I’d just have to hear from the police what they’d established when they’d conducted their search.

“Okay, Mr. Tanaka, I believe that’s all I needed to ask,” I finally announced. “Thank you for your time.”

Shou just shrugged and followed me to the door. I was just about to thank him again when he suddenly said, “You’re not getting anywhere with this case, are you?”

I was a little taken aback. This was the first time he’d come across as a strong person. His voice was so hard that I couldn’t tell if his tone was accusatory or genuinely interested.

I simply gave him a polite smile. “I wouldn’t say that at all. We have some of the best in the business working on this and I believe we’re already making some headway.”

Shou didn’t seem very happy with my answer. Damn, he was weird... I bid him a quick goodbye before hurrying back down the front path. I heard the door slam behind me. Well, that had been a total dead end. I grumbled to myself all the way to my car. Still, at least I had two more crime scenes to check out. I did _not_ want to report back to Gibson (not to mention L) with diddly-squat.


	4. A Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It doesn't take long for Gee to realise that she isn't happy with the way that the case is being run. She decides to make her feelings known and ends up receiving a rather odd proposal in return.

When I arrived at Umehito Sashiro’s house in Seika, I was pleasantly surprised to be met by Kenichi. “Kenichi, what a surprise! It’s been ages since I saw you!” I kidded.

As always, Kenichi didn’t get the joke. He just rolled his eyes at me. “I saw you earlier, Gee.”

“Well, it has been a long day,” I grinned. “So did you volunteer to be my personal escort?”

“Of course not. Gibson asked me to meet you here,” said Kenichi stiffly.

“And he just happened to choose you, of all people?” I teased, enjoying bothering him like I always did.

“It was either me or Priestley,” Kenichi pointed out. “Me, him and Gibson are the only ones on the force that even know this case exists.”

That made sense. They were trying to keep the whole serial killer thing a secret after all. The less people who knew, the better. I just hadn’t realised it only extended to Gibson, Kenichi and Chad. But that aside, Kenichi was a total buzz-kill. He always liked to ruin my fun. Especially when it was aimed at him. I couldn’t imagine why.

“Well, in that case, I’d definitely take you,” I joked. Kenichi rolled his eyes again. “But in all seriousness, thanks for earlier. Going back to Gibs today was probably the best thing I could have done.”

Kenichi shrugged like it was nothing. “Do you want these keys or not? I haven’t got all day to be waiting for you.”

“Course I do.” I snagged the keys he was dangling in front of my face. “Keep your pants on.”

Kenichi snorted. “I’ll wait for you out here.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Are you sure? It’s getting dark and it’s kinda cold out. I’m probably gonna be a while in there.”

“I’d rather risk the cold than be in there with you talking my ear off,” said Kenichi.

I laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself. I have work to do. I won’t be wasting my time talking to you.”

This was my usual kind of banter, so Kenichi knew better than to take offence to anything I said. “Well, that’s what you’re doing right now. So get in there before I shove you through the door.”

I just laughed again. “Have fun out here with the owls,” I called over my shoulder as I unlocked the front door and let myself in.

I could tell straightaway that the house hadn’t been cared for in a while, even before the murder had happened. Though I guessed an unemployed, middle-aged man probably wouldn’t be very interested in cleaning and tidying.

I happily fell back into my inspection routine. Now that I was on my own again, I had plenty of time to myself to mull things over. Of course there was one main thought on my mind – L... I was actually working with the world’s greatest detective! Man, I sure was glad I’d stayed persistent and managed to claw my way onto this case.

I did wonder why L had taken up the job. You didn’t hear his name much in the media. He only took on the real big cases. This was hardly a big case right now – only a handful of people even knew about it. Was this really just a favour to Kenichi?

Well, regardless of why he’d taken up the case, I knew I had to try my hardest to make a good impression. I had to investigate these latest crime scenes as thoroughly as possible. Obviously I generally tried to do that anyway, but now, I was going to seriously work my ass off.

Looking at the lounge alone, I could tell that there had been a lot more disturbance here than at the previous crime scenes. All of the furniture had been moved around. There were multiple indents in the carpet, showing that the forensics team hadn’t quite put the furniture back in the correct places. It was a pretty big lounge – it must have been one heck of an altercation to have affected so much of the room.

The front door was still intact, though the frame around it was starting to split. It was difficult to tell whether that was relevant to the night of the murder or if it had just happened over time from the door being slammed shut too much. There was a powerful smell of disinfectant in here. It was a lot stronger in certain parts of the room than in others. There were a total of six different spots that were particularly potent. Forensics had had to do a _lot_ of cleaning in here.

Why was this scene so much more extravagant than the others? Our serial killer was getting messy. Was it intentional? Did he want us to notice? Or was he really just starting to go overboard?

Nearer to the door, there was a small wooden table. Next to it were four small round hollows in the carpet – most likely from a chair of some kind. It had probably gotten broken in the fight. Again, another sign of the killer becoming even more violent.

After combing over the rest of the house, I couldn’t find anything else at all enlightening. No matter how closely I inspected everything. Sighing, I collected my stuff together. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. But I still couldn’t help feeling just a little disappointed.

I’d completely forgotten about Kenichi waiting outside. I’d only just stepped outside when I saw the shadow loom over me. I whirled around, going for my gun, when I realised who it was. “Dammit, Ken,” I grumbled, pulling my hand back from inside my jacket. “Make a bit more noise next time.”

“Relax, Gee. You’re almost as edgy as I am.” Kenichi looked almost amused. Almost. “And I thought I told you not to call me Ken.”

I ignored his comments. “So did you have fun out here in the dark?”

“Of course. I had a one-man party,” said Kenichi dryly. I opened my mouth to say something to that, but he cut me off. “Did you not check your phone?”

“Why? Did you send me an invite?” I half joked, a little confused. Nevertheless, I fumbled my phone out of my pocket.

“Gibson tried calling you,” said Kenichi shortly. “He called me when you didn’t answer.”

“Is everything okay?” I asked, checking my phone. I’d forgotten to turn it on. Oops. I woke it up quickly and saw that there was indeed a missed call from the police station.

“Everything’s fine. He just wanted an update,” Kenichi explained.

Geez. Gibson hadn’t even given me time to finish up before calling. “Did you tell him I was still working?”

Kenichi nodded. “He said to call back when you can.”

“And what if I’ve not really got anything to update?” I said pointedly.

Kenichi shrugged. “He’s the boss. Find out for yourself.”

I sighed. “Fine.” I handed Sashiro’s keys back to him. “You can go home now, soldier. I’m heading back to my car. Guess I’ll be seeing you around though.”

“Guess you will,” agreed Kenichi. “Good night, Gee.”

“Night,” I called back over my shoulder as I left him on the doorstep.

I found my car keys out as I walked. I didn’t call Gibson back until I was in my car and I’d locked the doors. Hey, being paranoid doesn’t hurt.

“Hey, boss,” I greeted when he answered. “Kenichi told me you wanted some enlightenment. I’m sorry, but I haven’t really got that much of an update to give you.”

“It doesn’t matter. I probably should have told you before that you-know-who wants regular feedback, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem,” explained Gibson.

“I didn’t realise Voldemort was part of this case,” I jested lightly. I’ve said it before – I really am a dork.

“Very funny.” Gibson obviously didn’t appreciate my lame sense of humour. “He’d appreciate it if, in any public or phone conversations, you referred to him as Ryuzaki.”

“Ryuzaki. Got it.” To be honest, I kinda preferred Voldemort.

“So whatever you do or don’t find, you need to report back to me whenever you can,” Gibson continued. “Which I’ll then pass onto him.”

It seemed like a long-winded train to me. “Doesn’t he have a number I can call him on myself? That’d sure save a lot of time.”

“Come on, Gee, you know better than that,” Gibson tutted. “Do you really think it’s as simple as just calling him?”

It had been a long shot, I admit. Gibson was right. I’d had to wait a bitch of a time for L to get in touch with him earlier today. But could we really afford to keep wasting time with whatever this long-ass method of getting hold of him was?

I decided not to press the issue for now. “Yeah, okay,” I agreed reluctantly. “You can play messenger.”

Gibson grunted, obviously not happy with the idea himself. “Back to what _you’ve_ been doing... Tell me everything you can.”

“Well, like I said, there’s not much to tell,” I said. “I went to Shou Tanaka’s first, like you told me. And I know the guy’s been through a lot, but man... he sure is weird.”

“Yeah, Kenichi was the one who interviewed him before. He said something along the same lines,” said Gibson. “Did you get any information from him at all?”

“Nothing particularly useful,” I replied. “I ran the idea past him of Elizabeth having an affair and he disregarded it straight off.”

“Wait... I thought you said Carter was the one having an affair? Not Elizabeth,” Gibson pointed out.

“It was just an idea I had,” I said. “Picture this scenario... Carter and Elizabeth were the ones having the affair. Shou Tanaka found out, giving him motive to murder both of them.”

“Ah, I see where you’re coming from,” said Gibson. “But somehow I don’t think this case will be that easy to tie up. Plus it wouldn’t explain the other murders.”

“Yeah, I know; it was just a long-shot,” I agreed. “I wanna cover every possibility, no matter how small. This was only a tiny chance. And whoever Carter was having an affair with signs herself as ‘S’ anyway.”

“So we’re back to square one there,” sighed Gibson. “Did you find anything at Sashiro’s?”

“Nothing new,” I reported. “I could tell straightaway from the signs forensics left behind that the murder scene was a lot more brutal than the previous ones. Just like Ryuzaki said.”

“Do you think the house was broken into?” asked Gibson. “We were unable to confirm it due to lack of evidence.”

“Possibly. The door frame was starting to splinter, but I couldn’t tell if it was from a break-in or just from age.” I shrugged, even though Gibson couldn’t see me.

“What about the rest of the house? Find anything incriminating?” Gibson continued his questioning.

“Nothing at all,” I replied. “I really can’t see who’d have had a motive to murder this guy.”

“That’s what we concluded too.” Gibson sighed again. “Well, I’ll let you go now. I’ll pass this all onto Ryuzaki regardless.”

I frowned. Gibson sounded tired and fed up. I reckoned he needed a good night’s sleep more than I did. “Can’t that wait until morning? You sound like you need a damn good rest.”

Gibson chuckled. “You’re lecturing me? I thought I was the older one here.”

“Which is exactly why you need to rest,” I teased. “Isn’t there anyone else who can get in touch with Ryuzaki for you? I’ll come down to the station if you need me to.”

“Nice try, Gee,” said Gibson. “I’ll be fine. It shouldn’t take that long.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “And I wasn’t even trying to be sneaky that time.” I ignored his barefaced lie about it not taking long. “So do I get the key to the Hirano couple’s house tomorrow?”

“Yeah, just give me a call in the morning when you’re up and ready,” said Gibson. “I’ll either send Kenichi out again or you can come down to the station and I’ll give you the keys myself.”

“Roger that. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

After I hung up, I drove straight home. I had nothing else to do for tonight. I could have quite happily investigated another crime scene, but I figured I should do what Gibson told me, at least for now.

Of course, Kyo was there to attack my boots when I got back. Sure, he wasn’t there when I wanted him, but he was happy to wait around for me when all I wanted to do was go up to my apartment. Stupid freeloader.

“Sorry, Kyo, no playtime tonight,” I told him.

He meowed and turned his best sad face on me. Think Puss in Boots from Shrek. Best way to make someone feel guilty. If you’re a cat, that is. Somehow I don’t think it’d work as well coming from a person.

He tried following me towards the door that led up to the apartment. “You can’t come upstairs, little buddy. Not after what you did last time.”

Kyo was the only reason I’d ever learnt to sew – and not very well, I might add – after he’d mauled Blue, one of my cuddly wolf toys. Poor Blue had already been falling apart as it was.

I quickly shut the door behind me. Okay, that was kinda mean and he’d probably be sulking in the morning, but the damn cat had to learn.

I was still a little too keyed up to actually sleep. My brain tended to run on irregular bursts of energy. So I wasted some more time by cooking up some instant noodles, then having a long hot shower after I’d eaten.

I felt a little sleepier after that. I pulled on an old man-sized t-shirt that I usually sleep in (I rarely bother with bottoms during the night) and shoved a Psych DVD on whilst I snuggled up in bed. Yeah, I know, I’m totally greedy for having a TV in my bedroom as well as in my lounge... So sue me.

After a couple of episodes, I could finally feel myself drifting off – my head all jumbled up with a mess of random thoughts. Sure, this case was probably going to be my most difficult yet... But man, was I happy to be working again.

**XXX**

The next morning, I was awake fairly early, as usual. I got up straightaway – I’m not really one for having lie-ins. It makes me feel far too lazy. I hate lying around and not doing anything.

I wondered if it was too early to call Gibson yet. I figured I’d give it at least half an hour, just to be sure. I didn’t want to just sit around and wait, so I decided to have some breakfast for a change. I had a beaten up old toaster that I rarely used and I was sure I had a pack of Scotch pancakes somewhere.

After I’d finished eating, I checked the time. Damn. That had only taken me ten minutes. I rocked back and forth on my chair. At times, I can be an absolute master of patience. Other times, that just goes right out the window. This was one of those times.

About fifteen minutes later, I found myself down at the police station. Waiting around at home would have just driven me crazy. I felt that little bit more productive being here, even though I’d basically just be waiting in a different place. I approached the receptionist on duty. “Hey. Gibson isn’t here yet by any chance, is he?”

“Yeah, he is,” replied the receptionist. “He came in about half an hour ago.”

Well, damn. I’d been worrying about disturbing him for nothing. “Okay, thanks.”

I carried on round to Gibson’s office and knocked on the door. I waited for his usual ‘come on in’ before going through.

“Morning, Gee,” Gibson greeted, looking surprised. “I didn’t expect to see you down here yet.”

“Yeah, well, I figured I could just come and get the keys myself. Save you bothering Kenichi again.” No need to mention that I’d just been dallying at home, worrying whether or not to call.

“Oh, okay then.” Gibson took up a brown envelope off his desk and shook a set of keys out into his hand. He passed them over to me. “Here you go. You know the drill – call me as soon as you’re done.”

“You got it.” I swung the keys round once on my finger before pocketing them. “I’ll catch you later.”

It was a nice change being able to get into the Hiranos’ house without having to depend on meeting an officer there or, worse, having to break in. I felt I had a bit more freedom this way. Not more time though, of course. Gibson would no doubt be calling to harass me if I didn’t do so first within a decent amount of time. The faster I worked, the less chance there was of that happening.

“Hi ho. Hi ho. It’s off to work we go,” I muttered sarcastically to myself.

I started off in the lounge, where Jun Hirano had been killed. They had laminate flooring. Boo. I prefer carpet. It’s easier to see the movement of the furniture with carpet.

No matter. I could see that large squares of the flooring were just a few shades darker than the rest, not having been exposed to the light. Not only that; this room was very empty. There was only one sofa and a coffee table. Not even a TV. My guess was that this room was missing a fair bit of furniture that had likely gotten broken on the night of the break-in.

There was no sign of any blood. but the room reeked of disinfectant. Forensics had obviously had to douse the whole room with it. It must have been pretty horrific in here. Besides the lock on the front door – brilliantly shiny and most definitely brand new, much like at Carter Burnham’s house – there wasn’t anything else enlightening in this room. The kitchen and the downstairs toilet weren’t much use either. I moved on upstairs.

It was only a small house. The upstairs consisted of just two small bedrooms, an extra bathroom and a large laundry cupboard. I hit the laundry cupboard first, since it was where Miho Hirano’s body had been found. The first thing that was glaringly obvious was that it was completely empty. No towels, no sheets, nothing. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. Forensics would have gotten rid of them. I could only imagine the mess this cupboard must have been in.

There were no clues left for me to find. The cupboard had been completely scrubbed clean. I didn’t have any luck with the other rooms upstairs either.

Sighing, I left the house and locked up after me. The only thing I could really establish was that this scene was very similar to the last murder in Seika, rather than the first two in Kasagi. I sent Gibson a quick text message, telling him that I was on my way back to the station and that he should get hold of L. 

When I got there, I went straight through to Gibson’s office. He hadn’t heard back from L yet. What a surprise.

“It shouldn’t be too long,” said Gibson uncertainly. “Why don’t you go wait in the staff lounge?”

“Yeah, okay,” I agreed. He was obviously trying to get me out of the way again, but I decided to just let him. The man looked like hell. “You want me to bring you anything?”

“If you could grab me a cup of coffee, that would be great,” said Gibson, massaging his temples. “And I wouldn’t say no to a couple of painkillers if you have any on you.”

I happen to suffer from migraines fairly often so, luckily for Gibson, I always carry a variety of painkillers with me. “Sure thing.” I pulled a strip out of my wallet and popped a few pills out onto the desk. “I’ll go get you some coffee. Be back in a sec.”

I went through into the staff lounge and started up the drinks machine. Poor Gibson. I’d never seen him look so worn out before. He’d probably stayed up for hours last night, waiting for L to get in touch.

That idea really pissed me off. I’d always had a very high respect for L as a detective, but just over the last twenty-four hours, that opinion had dropped considerably. Sure, every detective has their own way of doing things, but L’s methods just seemed to be wasting a hell of a lot of time. Plus it was obviously taking a toll on Gibson, having to get back to him so often.

The drinks machine finally rattled out a cup of coffee. I carried it back through to Gibson. “Here you go, boss.”

“Thanks, Gee,” said Gibson gratefully. “I’ll get the receptionist to call you in as soon as we have life.” He nodded at his redundant laptop.

That was my cue to return to the staff lounge. I made myself some hot chocolate, then settled down in the chair facing Gibson’s office so that I could watch through the window. I ignored my Dracula book this time. I wanted to watch Gibson’s office on the off-chance that I might see something happen from outside.

I waited for a long while. I had no clue how much time had passed – I’d been watching Gibson’s door, not the clock. Not much had happened. Several officers had walked past, but none of them had stopped. My mind started wandering as I tapped my foot to a lazy beat. Today really wasn’t a good day for patience. My attention kept slipping.

Thankfully, I had something bring my attention crashing back down to earth before I could slip into a full-on zombie trance. A man in a black suit and hat had just gone into Gibson’s office. It was the strange man I’d nearly crashed into yesterday. 

Was it just a coincidence that he’d been around when Gibson had gotten in touch with L the last time I was here? I frowned. I’d learnt to always be suspicious of coincidences.

He was in Gibson’s office for about five minutes before he came out. He stepped neatly around the corner and stopped – out of the way and almost out of sight. I could just about see the brim of his hat from here. Had he been waiting there yesterday too? I could have just not noticed him last time. I’d been too eager to talk to the famous L then. I could have easily missed him.

The receptionist came in whilst I was spying and damn well scared the crap out of me. “Gibson says you can go through now.” She gave me a strange look when I nearly jumped a mile out of my seat, but she didn’t say anything else.

I returned a second time to Gibson’s office, resisting the urge to peek around the corner at the man with the hat. I decided I wouldn’t mention him just yet. I was sure he had something to do with L... I just didn’t know what exactly.

Once I’d shut the door, Gibson motioned for me to take a seat. He’d pushed his laptop back down to the end of the desk so that I could see the screen too. I wasn’t really sure why that was necessary – all we were looking at was a fancy letter ‘L’ again. I sat down and folded my arms. I may have only been on the case for little over a day, but I was already getting fed up of not being let in on the loop. There was my impatience setting in again.

“We meet again, Gee,” said the voice from the laptop, still heavy with voice filters.

“I think meet is a poor choice of wording,” I commented lightly. Gibson glared at me like I was being a very insolent child. He could damn well suck it.

Unfortunately, L didn’t seem bothered by my remark. “I stand corrected.” Annoyingly, he just carried on. “Now... Mr. Gibson has been passing all of your feedback onto me regarding your visits to both Shou Tanaka and to Umehito Sashiro’s house.”

“Right,” I said, unsure where he was going with this. Was he going to deride me for not coming up with any new information?

“I am also aware that this morning you have been investigating the house of Jun and Miho Hirano,” L continued. Okay, maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he just liked to recap. Or maybe he simply liked the sound of his own freaky voice filters. “I would very much like to hear all that you have discovered.”

I dragged my train of thought back to what was important. “Well, if we are still dealing with the same killer, then he’s getting more reckless and a lot more brutal.”

I explained everything I’d found – about the replacement door latch, the missing furniture, the mess the laundry cupboard must have been in... It was information he’d already know from the police and from forensics, but hey, that was all I’d managed to find. I didn’t see him doing any better anyway. So far, he’d been working this case from behind his computer screen. How exactly was he contributing by doing that?

“Yes. That’s pretty much what we’ve been able to establish too,” agreed L.

I made a face at the screen. What was all this ‘we’ stuff? Okay, I know I hadn’t been on the team from the beginning like he had, but at least I was actually pulling my weight. As far as I could see, all L was doing was just overseeing things. He wasn’t really doing anything to help.

Gibson noticed the look on my face. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m not very comfortable with the way this case is being run,” I said outright.

Gibson shifted awkwardly in his seat. He looked like he wished he hadn’t said anything. “Play nice, Gee,” he warned. “Remember, I can take you back off this case just as easily as I put you on it.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly _easy_ to get on this case,” I pointed out with a sarcastic tone.

“Don’t be a smart-ass,” said Gibson.

“That’s easier said than done. Smart-ass is my middle name,” I said lightly.

“Tell me about it,” Gibson grumbled.

I’d almost forgotten that L was still listening. “If I may interject...” he said courteously, interrupting mine and Gibson’s tiff. “If you have a point you’d like to make, Gee, then please go ahead.”

Gibson gave me a warning look. One that clearly said I should keep my mouth shut. I didn’t know why he was bothering – he should have known that was one thing I always had difficulty doing.

“I just don’t think it’s very fair that the trust only seems to be going one way here,” I confessed quickly before Gibson could stop me. When I was met by silence, I carried on. “As a detective, I can understand your need for privacy. After all, I never use my real name in work... There are only a handful of people here who even know what my real name is.”

That seemed to loosen L’s tongue. “Actually, I do know your real name... Georgia Shidou.”

“How the hell...” I turned to glare at Gibson.

“Hey, I didn’t tell him,” Gibson defended, raising his hands.

“Actually, I found out on my own accord,” L clarified. “You used to be a police officer. It wasn’t exactly difficult to find out. There’s still plenty of information about you on record.”

“That’s an invasion of my privacy,” I grumbled. “And that is so not fair! This is exactly what I mean! You know everything about us, but we don’t know anything about you. I don’t care what your real name is or who you really are, but we’re on the same team; we should be working together! Gibson’s having to waste a lot of time trying to get hold of you so often. And I’m tired of talking to a damn laptop!”

Wow. It’d been a while since I’d had a rant like that. It felt quite good... Even if I was about to get kicked off the case for it. Gibson looked torn between annoyance and sympathy. I knew he agreed with me, but he wouldn’t allow members of his team to be fighting. And he wouldn’t risk giving up on the world’s greatest detective. That left me to get the boot.

“I understand your frustration,” said L. I snorted. Yeah, right. If he came out with a smart-ass comment now, I was going to smash Gibson’s laptop. “And you’re right; as a detective yourself, you do understand my predicament more than a lot of people would.”

“I’d hardly call it a predicament,” I said dryly. Gibson kicked my shin underneath the desk. I shot him an angry look. 

Why was L bothering to appeal to me? Considering I was the one that apparently understood him the most, I’d still just had a real go at him. I wouldn’t want to reason with me if I was him.

“Regardless of what you want to call it, I am prepared to make a deal with you,” L continued. “If you truly believe that my methods are wasting time, then I’d like to remedy that.”

I looked over at Gibson, who shrugged. He looked as confused as I was. “So what are you proposing?” I asked L warily.

“I will agree to work with you in person,” said L. “On one condition...”

“And what’s that?” I said sarcastically, reluctantly playing along. Man, he was dragging this out like a real bitch.

“I will only work alongside you on the condition that you pass my test,” L replied.

I raised my eyebrows at the screen. Test? What the hell? I glanced at Gibson again – he now looked more amused than anything else. The bastard. I resisted the urge to kick him back. I sighed. “So what’s the test?”

“You’ll have to wait and see. I can’t make it that easy for you,” said L, almost sounding like he was enjoying himself. “Mr. Gibson, please continue to give me regular reports using the usual method to get in touch with me.”

With that, the laptop screen went black. I stared at it with a blank look on my face. What had just happened? What damn test was he talking about? Stupid, alien detective!

I turned back to Gibson and folded my arms again. I probably looked like a sulky child. At least that’s what I felt like. “I guess I’m in trouble now.”

“Actually, no. You’re not in trouble,” said Gibson, trying not to smile.

Huh? He was letting me off? “Why not? You don’t normally allow fighting amongst your team.”

“I know I don’t. But I’d hardly call that fighting,” Gibson chortled. “That was just you going off on a rant and somehow managing to win.”

“You think I won?” I said, feeling lost. “Then what about this stupid test thing I’m meant to pass? I don’t even know what it’s going to be! How is that winning?”

“Because you’ve still managed to get more than I have!” Gibson started laughing. “Oh, the look on your face... It was priceless! Don’t worry, Gee, you’re still on the team. I could do with the amusement.”

I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or annoyed about that. I settled for grumbling, “Thanks, boss.” I got to my feet. “So what’s the next step?”

Gibson shrugged. “Well, right now, we don’t have anymore leads to follow. And you’ve already retraced all of our steps...” He grinned. “So I suggest you go home and study for your test.”

I scowled at him and patted the stapler that was sat on his desk. “You do know I’m not above using this to staple you in the head, right?”

Gibson just laughed. “Go home, Gee! You’ve actually got the rest of the day off. You may wanna make the most of it.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” I said. He made it sound like it was a good thing. Though having some free time might not be so bad. I could see if Johnny fancied having some girl time... Yes. Girl time is exactly what I meant. “Let me know when you’ve got something for me to do.”

When I left the office, I peeped around the corner. I hadn’t forgotten about the man with the hat. Just as I’d thought, he was still there. He gave me a brief nod when he saw me looking.

“I don’t envy your job,” I told him over my shoulder as I turned away. “I’ve only spoken to that damned detective twice and he’s already pissing me off.”

He didn’t say anything, but I swear I heard him chuckling behind me as I stalked off and made my way out of the police station.


	5. Hungover and Technophobic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being hungover really doesn't help when your detective skills are being put to the test. Luckily, Gee manages to pass the challenge and impress the famous L. She even impresses herself in the process, though more because of getting through her hangover without hurling.

Johnny and I did end up having a girls’ night in, which was actually really nice. We watched a bunch of cheesy movies (most of which I can happily say were from Johnny’s collection) and we had a good old bitching session about boys and work.

I bought a bottle of vodka that we completely demolished between the two of us. Johnny wanted to do my nails, which I rejected point blank. I’m glad that I can still maintain some standards even when drunk. We also snacked. A _lot_. We tried making one of those five-minute microwave cakes in a mug... It really didn’t work. I still ate most of the spongy mess – cake was cake, after all. Johnny refused to believe it was even edible, let alone cake.

So I went to bed, and woke up the next morning, feeling like the room was spinning. Oh, yay.

I was also really cold. I rolled over slowly – it’s not a good idea to make any sudden movements when you’re hungover– and found Johnny lying next to me. Well, that explained why I was cold. I normally wouldn’t bed-share with Johnny (he’s a notorious covers hog) but I was obviously much easier to persuade when I was drunk.

And I noticed he’d chucked all my poor wolves out onto the floor. I frowned at his drunken sleeping face (drunken sleeping faces are a lot more amusing than normal sleeping faces). I groaned and very reluctantly pulled myself out of bed. If I didn’t get a glass of water into my system soon, I was pretty sure I was going to die... In case you didn’t know, being hungover also tends to make you a little overdramatic.

I went into the bathroom and slowly washed my face with cold water. I ducked past the mirror. I’m not a vain person at all, but even I don’t ever want to see my zombie-like hangover face. Johnny would be allowed to when he got up (whenever that would be) but only because he’d be in the same state as me. The thought that I wouldn’t be suffering alone made me feel a little better.

After getting a glass of water from the kitchen, I spent the next half hour sat in the lounge, staring absent-mindedly at the photos on the walls. I’d force myself to do something in a minute. If I could get through my hangover without actually throwing up, then I could put up with the other aches and pains that came with it.

Within the following hour, I’d managed to get myself dressed - Johnny was still fast asleep, the lucky bastard - and dragged my butt downstairs to my office. I pulled papers and a pen out of my desk, sat down and started laboriously writing up every little thing we’d discovered on the Kasagi case so far. The worst thing you can do when you’ve got a hangover is nothing. Give yourself some work to concentrate on and it’s much easier to tolerate.

Sure, the first hour of forcing my brain to work straight felt like a living hell, but I did start to feel a lot better after a while. I still had a bit of a headache, but now I felt safe to take some painkillers without having to worry about puking them back up. I even felt confident enough to have an energy drink out of my mini fridge.

After I’d written down everything I could think of, I found out my laptop from underneath the desk and switched it on. While I was waiting for it to load up, I went and fetched my keys from upstairs so that I could unlock the front of my office. I wouldn’t want to miss a potential client just because I was feeling a little fragile.

When I returned to my laptop, it finally had life. I searched online for a map of the immediate area and sent my result to the printer in the corner of the room. I then collected the map from the printer, grabbed another energy drink and sat down once more. 

Using a red pen, I marked each of the murder locations on the map, wondering if there was maybe some kind of visual pattern I could pick up on. I also marked Shou Tanaka’s address with a red asterix just to show that it had also been included in the investigation. While I was working I heard the cat flap rattle in the front door, signalling the arrival of Kyo.

“Hey, Kyo.” I greeted him like I would any of my human friends. I don’t even find this weird anymore. I’ve solved most of my previous cases with Kyo as my only accomplice. Trust me; I always have to talk to someone. Even if it is just the cat.

Kyo wound himself round my legs, meowing loudly. “Sorry, Kyo, I can’t play right now,” I apologised. He just gazed at me imploringly. I couldn’t help but cave – I still wasn’t in the right frame of mind to resist. “Oh, fine, come on then.” I patted my lap. I guessed I could pet him for a little bit whilst I worked.

As usual, Kyo completely ignored what I wanted and hopped straight up onto my desk. I sighed. And there was me trying to be nice. “Rip any of these papers and you’re dead, cat,” I warned. Kyo just gave me a disdainful look in response and continued padding around my desk.

Sighing again, I leant forward on the desk and rested my chin on my arms. My head felt clearer already – I sure knew how to battle a hangover. I only wished I could battle this case just as easily. Kyo started meowing again so I blew air in his face. He gave me another disapproving stare, but at least he did shut up. 

“Give me a break, Kyo,” I lamented. “I don’t know what to do with this case now. It’s only been a few days and I’m already at a loss. We have no more leads to follow and we really didn’t find out much from the leads we did have in the first place... I can’t keep hassling Gibs; he’ll let me know as soon as we’ve got something. But what am I supposed to do until then?”

Kyo looked almost like he understood as he gazed at me through his amber cat eyes, purring rhythmically. I smiled as he mewed and cautiously touched his nose to mine. He could be so damn cute when he wanted to be... Then he promptly sneezed in my face.

“Oh, gross, Kyo!” I complained, jerking back and making him jump and yowl. I grabbed him before he could send too many papers flying and looked him directly in the eye. “Why did you have to do that? You were being so cute and you know I’ve already been having a tough morning...”

I was interrupted mid rant by the office door opening. I quickly dropped Kyo back onto the desk as I looked up, trying not to glare at the intruder. I mean, come on; I have a doorbell out there for a reason. And let’s face it; I’d just been caught having a conversation with a cat. That wasn’t really the image I wanted to get across to potential customers. 

Plus I was still marginally hungover and more than a little crabby this morning. 

“Can I help you?” I asked, a little frostier than I’d intended, still trying my best to keep the accusatory stare to a minimum level. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was working.

My intruder was a scruffy-looking youth – he didn’t look like my usual kind of client. I say youth; he was probably around the same age as me. And damn, referring to someone as a youth makes me sound really old... Maybe I won’t do that again.

“Sorry for interrupting, but do you know the way to Kansai-Kan Library? I don’t know this area very well and I’m meant to be there in about fifteen minutes,” the guy explained in a smooth, but fairly flat tone.

I raised my eyebrows. He didn’t seem in much of a rush to me. But still, I didn’t want to give myself any bad publicity by annoying him. Word of mouth was very important to a business like mine. Plus I’d remembered I still had the maps page up on my laptop. It wouldn’t be difficult to help him.

“I can print you a map if you like?” I offered. “I’m just in the middle of using some right now.”

“Yes, thank you. That would be great,” he said in the same almost bored tone.

I frowned. Ignoring the annoying lack of enthusiasm, he sounded kind of familiar... But then he didn’t at the same time. Like when you recognise a voice actor in a new anime, but you expect their voice to be slightly different because you’re thinking of another character they’ve voiced... I know, I know, Gee’s nerd side strikes again.

I pushed my geeky thoughts aside. “Just give me a minute.” I pulled my laptop towards me, zooming in on the page and enlarging the section of the map I’d need to give to this guy.

I glanced over the top of my laptop and saw him peering at the map already on my desk that I’d been using to mark the murder scenes of the Kasagi killer. Crap... I hoped he was just being nosy, rather than purposely trying to decipher anything from it.

Though I didn’t know why I was worrying. It wouldn’t mean anything to an outsider. And the only people who even knew about the case besides myself were Gibson, Kenichi, Chad and L.

I froze. Everything suddenly clicked into place. I knew exactly why his voice sounded familiar. I only had to imagine it layered with voice filters. But it couldn’t be... could it?

By this point, he’d noticed me staring at him. “Is everything okay?” he asked, still monotonous.

There was no doubt about it – it was the same level-pitched voice I’d tried to argue with yesterday. Even without the voice emulators, I could still recognise it. Shit, this guy really was L! This must be something to do with the test he’d mentioned. I forced myself to regain my composure and managed to motion towards the chair opposite me. “Maybe you should take a seat...”

His expression didn’t change, but he unquestioningly closed the front door behind him and followed my hand. Rather than actually sitting in the chair I’d indicated, he stepped up onto it and sank into a crouch, balancing on the seat. I raised an eyebrow, but I didn’t comment on it. To be honest, I was still in shock.

“You’ll be pleased to know you passed my test,” he finally said. “I almost thought you were going to miss the opportunity.”

Yeesh. Even without voice filters, he still sounded like a robot. He just seemed to lack all emotion. It was kind of unnerving. And was that all his test had been? Just having to be able to recognise him in person? I wouldn’t admit it to anyone else, but I was actually quite pleased with myself, especially for managing it in my hungover state.

“Yeah, you’ll have to come up with more of a challenge next time,” I replied in what I hoped was a blasé way. Oh, whatever, I was allowed to gloat a little bit.

“I’ll make sure to do that,” promised L in the same deadpan tone. Not even the smallest hint of humour. Damn, this was going to be hard to get used to. I already teased Kenichi for having the emotional range of a teaspoon. Compared to L, he was a riot.

I couldn’t seem to stop staring at him, though I swear I was trying my best not to. I just didn’t know what to think. He was younger than I’d expected. I reckoned I was older than him, if only by a year or so. The thought did make me a little miffed. 

He was very pale and skinny and he’d probably be quite tall if he didn’t seem to hunch over so much. His black hair fell about his face in a crazy disarray and his eyes were big and endlessly dark, underlined with grey shadows. Overall, he reminded me of a rather dreary-looking scarecrow.

I was also finding it hard to ignore the weird way he was sitting, though his blank expression made me not want to comment on it. I’m normally pretty good at judging a person’s character and psyching them out... But L’s face was completely unreadable – it gave me nothing to go on. I almost wanted to poke him to check he wasn’t made of stone.

I didn’t, obviously. Somehow I didn’t think he’d appreciate it.

“So now that we’re going to be working together in person, where would you like to continue operating the case from?” I asked, figuring I may as well just get down to business. Also I was hoping that having something to discuss would keep me from staring at him like he was an animal in the zoo.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I actually think this office would be the most suitable location for now,” replied L.

I shrugged. “Sure. That’s fine with me.” Actually it was more than fine. It meant my bed was only just upstairs and I’d have a constant supply on energy drinks on the job.

“This street is fairly quiet, but it’s public enough so that it shouldn’t be particularly noticeable for me to continue to visit,” L continued.

Sounded logical for someone who seemed so paranoid about appearing in public. No wonder he was so pale. I was pretty sure this must have been the first time he’d ventured out from behind his computer screen in quite a while.

I wondered if he did actually blend in like he obviously intended to. He wore just a long-sleeved white top, plain jeans and a pair of beaten-up old trainers. I doubted I’d look twice at him if I passed him on the street. But then the more I looked at him, the more unusual he seemed and in the end, I couldn’t imagine him doing anything but sticking out like a sore thumb. And the way he sat didn’t help him appear any more normal.

I nodded along with his explanation. “So are you going to give me a way that I can get in touch with you?”

L looked at me, completely stone-faced, before saying very seriously, “I will give you a number and I am only going to give it to you once. I am not willing to write it down and I’ll ask you to do the same, for fear of it possibly being misplaced.”

I was a little insulted by that. I tried not to show it. “I can remember it,” I said stiffly.

L nodded and compliantly recited a number to me, which I made sure I paid my utmost attention to. It was a strange number – it wasn’t the right amount of digits for either a cell phone or a landline.

“That’s not a phone number, is it?” I said uncertainly, once I was sure I had the sequence of numbers safely memorised.

“It’s a pager number,” said L. “The pager belongs to my handler, Watari. If he receives a page, he will inform me straightaway.”

Hell, I didn’t even own a pager. I’d have to invest in one as soon as possible. Or maybe there was an app I could find for my iPhone. They had them for the most obscure things now, after all. Johnny even had one that could locate the nearest Gaydar-app-using homosexual guy within a five-mile radius. 

Crap! _Johnny_. I’d completely forgotten he was still upstairs. I couldn’t even consider what L would think if an attractive (I hated to admit it, but Johnny _was_ a looker) hungover and/or possibly still drunken guy stumbled down into my office from upstairs. I’d just have to hope he was either still asleep or too preoccupied with his own hangover-based self pity to bother me.

I tried not to freak out at the thought and instead concentrated on what L had just been saying. “Watari?” I repeated. Did I finally have a name for the mysterious man with the hat? “Is that the guy who’s been hanging around Gibson’s office lately?”

“The very one,” confirmed L, not even showing whether he was or wasn’t surprised that I’d noticed him in the first place. Man, he really didn’t give any emotions away. I had a feeling that was going to be a pain in the ass. “Watari is the only person who knows how to get in contact with me. He’s also the only one who’s able to calibrate my computer connection to another person’s.”

That explained why it had always taken so long for Gibson to get to a direct conversation with L. He’d have had to get in touch with Watari first, have him contact L, wait for Watari to turn up at the police station and _then_ wait for him to set up the connection to his laptop. So he must have had the pager number too. I wondered how he’d gotten hold of it. It was obvious that L didn’t give it out on a regular basis.

Putting that aside, there was another question that was weighing more on my mind. After all, there were more people involved on this case than just me. “What about Gibson?” I asked. “And Kenichi and Chad? Are you willing to work with them in person too? We’re all on the same team, remember.”

This actually looked like the first question L had to think about. “Originally, I did want to keep this kind of meeting to an absolute minimum. But I somehow get the feeling that you won’t drop this point so easily.”

I couldn’t help but grin at that comment. Turned out people didn’t even have to know me for my stubbornness to get across. Then again, L had been on the receiving end of one of my rants already.

“You wouldn’t be wrong there,” I smiled. “Plus I think it’s only fair. Gibson’s put a lot of trust and patience in you on this case. Not to mention the amount of extra hours he’s been working. It’s the least he deserves. All three of them are really trustworthy officers and it’d just make the whole thing a lot easier to work.”

Thankfully, L stopped me from needing to dive into another rant. “There’s no need for you to argue your point further. I am willing to work alongside Mr. Gibson, Mr. Takano and Mr. Priestley also. Now that you have a way to contact me yourself, please feel free to set up a meeting for all of us. I assure you that I am quite flexible.”

I actually had to bite my tongue to keep myself from making a ‘that’s what she said’ related joke. I blamed Johnny for that influence. Who I was still hoping wasn’t going to appear down the stairs anytime soon.

Instead, I said, “Sure. I’ll arrange something with Gibson later today.”

L nodded and his gaze returned to the papers on my desk. “I see you’re devoting yourself entirely to this case.”

“Yeah, well, workaholic is my middle name,” I said offhandedly. It was getting harder to concentrate fully on the conversation. I was becoming increasingly paranoid about the Johnny issue. Months ago, I would have given anything for the chance to meet the famous L... Now I kinda just wanted him to bugger off so that I could relax.

“I was under the impression that your middle name was smart-ass,” commented L, as impassive as ever.

“Excuse me?” I gaped at him, shocked and more than a little offended.

“That’s what you said yesterday in your conversation with Mr. Gibson anyway,” L pointed out.

Oh, great. Did he have an eidetic memory or was he just annoyingly creepy and remembered every little thing that was said? I couldn’t even remember saying it myself. But then my mind wasn’t exactly at its best this morning.

“You’ll have to forgive me; my mind’s a little fragile right now,” I confessed, massaging my temples. I’d felt like my headache had been disappearing, but conversing with L seemed to bring it right back.

Before L could even comment on my confession to being hungover, he suddenly stiffened and looked down at the floor. Bewildered, I leant across the desk to see what he could possibly be looking at and saw Kyo reaching up the chair and trying to claw at his jeans.

I groaned. “Kyo, you stupid cat! What do you think you’re doing?” 

I went round to retrieve said cat. I’d forgotten he was even here. And he wasn’t too impressed when I dragged him away. He managed to wriggle out of my arms and stalked off and out through the cat flap without a backward glance.

“Sorry. That cat has a thing for denim,” I told L, even though he didn’t look the slightest bit bothered by what had just happened.

“That’s quite alright,” said L tonelessly, stepping off the chair and straightening up out of his crouch. “Now that we have made our arrangements, I must be going. I’ll leave you to the after effects of your alcohol intake and what I’m presuming is a male friend you have upstairs.”

I stared at him, surprised and more than a little embarrassed. How the hell had he known that Johnny was upstairs? And I really wasn’t impressed with the emphasis he’d put on the word ‘male’. Now he was probably thinking I kept guys tucked away on a regular basis. Damn him.

The worst part was he’d stumped me into having absolutely no response to that comment. L left the office without another word and I just sat there gaping like a goldfish.

“Damn you, L...” I muttered to myself. I honestly couldn’t have said if I was happy or not about how this meeting had just gone down. And I had a horrible feeling that this was just a taster for things to come.

**XXX**

I was left to fume by myself for a good hour before Johnny finally emerged. In that time, I’d downed another two energy drinks. I’d never been happier to see my best friend. Unfortunately, he obviously didn’t feel the same.

“Urgh. I feel like I got hit by a homophobic train,” Johnny groaned, dropping into the chair that L had used earlier and closing his eyes.

I bit my lip, trying not to smile. Normally, I don’t pity hangovers seeing as they’re self-inflicted. But then I could hardly judge when I’d been feeling the same way just a few hours ago. Yeah, I can be a total hypocrite when it suits me.

“Want me to give you a lift home?” I offered sympathetically.

Johnny opened his eyes and gave me an adoring look. “I love you so much.”

I laughed. “Of course you do; I’m amazing.” I checked the time on my laptop before shutting it down and putting it back in one of the drawers, along with the papers I’d been working on. It had been long enough since I’d last consumed any alcohol to be safe enough for me to drive. I locked the desk up. “Come on, I’ll help you get all your stuff together.”

Whilst we went round gathering Johnny’s crap that was lying around in my apartment, I launched into a rant about what had happened with L. Much to my annoyance, Johnny wasn’t acting very supportive and didn’t even seem to be listening to me.

“Hey! Have you even heard a word I just said?” I nagged, throwing his body spray at him. He didn’t react quick enough to catch it, unsurprisingly. It bounced off his chest and clattered to the floor.

“Sorry, honey; I’m really not with it right now,” Johnny apologised, bending to retrieve the body spray and rubbing his head with his other hand.

I tried to swallow my irritation. Friend or not, Johnny could be selfish when he wanted to be. But I told myself this was only because he was hungover. I’d just have to ring him tomorrow and tell him everything again. So help him if he didn’t pay attention a second time.

So rather than getting annoyed at him, I just said, “Never mind. Have you got everything now?”

I left Johnny to double check his inventory whilst I fitted on my shoulder holster and clipped my Browning Hi-Power onto it. I pulled my trench coat on over the top, which was my usual method of concealing it. I’d be lost without my gun. I rarely went anywhere without it.

By this point, we were both all set. I locked the office up after me. I actually felt a little better just for being outside. The fresh air obviously had no effect on Johnny, however – he still looked like death warmed up. He was going to be in some serious trouble if he puked in my car. I was glad his house wasn’t too far from here.

“You really need to upgrade your taste in music,” Johnny told me once we were driving.

“Why would I want to do that?” I said stiffly. I didn’t like it when he started picking on my musical preferences.

“Because this sounds so old!” Johnny complained.

“That’s because it’s from the eighties,” I said in a patronising tone. The current CD in my car was one of my Tears For Fears albums. Possibly my favourite band. “To you, that probably _is_ old.”

Johnny continued to grouch the rest of the way and I continued to give him more snarky responses. I refused to change the CD. When we got to Johnny’s place, he all but fell out of the car with his man-purse. Oh, I’m sorry, I mean satchel, as he’s always telling me.

“Call me tomorrow,” I told him through the open window. I didn’t see why I should have to do everything. “Try not to pass out and choke on your own vomit.”

“I love you too,” he replied sarcastically, though he still waved me off as I continued on my way.

I headed to the police station rather than straight back home. I needed to give Gibson an update on what had happened. In my annoyance over L’s parting comment, I’d forgotten the promising turn our meeting had brought to the case. Suddenly excited, I parked up in a rush and practically charged straight into Gibson’s office without bothering the receptionist.

He was surprised by my sudden appearance. “Hey, Gee, is everything okay? You nearly broke my door down.”

“L’s finally on our team!” I burst out, feeling pleased. I then launched into a recount on everything that had been said and what L had agreed to.

Gibson looked impressed and gave me a wide smile. I hadn’t actually realised how long it had been since I’d seen him look so optimistic. “That’s great news! Well done, Gee. Really well done.”

I grinned back at him. “Thanks a lot!” I was just about to ask him about the pager issue but he cut me off excitedly.

“So what’s he like? How old is he? Was he anything like you expected?” Gibson questioned, curiosity burning in his eyes. He sounded like a little kid wanting to know more about Santa Claus.

“Nothing like I expected,” I said truthfully. “It was kinda hard to pinpoint his age... I’d guess close to mine. Maybe a bit younger.” That idea still grated on me a little. When it came to working cases with other people, I was used to being the young prodigy. I didn’t want someone stealing my place.

“And what was he like in general?” Gibson pressed.

I hesitated. Should I embellish the truth for now so it’d be amusing when he found out for himself? Or should I give him a little insight so he’d know what to expect?

I went for the latter. “Honestly? He’s... odd. Really odd. He looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie, he doesn’t sit properly, he talks like a robot... You wouldn’t think you’d look twice at him, but then, at the same time, he’s the most unusual person I’ve ever met.” Oh, great, I was starting to rant again.

Gibson seemed highly amused by my answer. I didn’t like the look he was giving me. “So do you approve?”

I thought it over. “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I do respect him as a detective. But as a person, I think he’s gonna be a pain in my ass.”

Gibson laughed. “Oh, Gee, you’re probably the only person who could make a case like this so entertaining.”

“Thanks a lot,” I said sarcastically. I then remembered what I’d wanted to ask him. “Hey, do you know anywhere nearby I could get a pager from?”

“Oh, of course, I forgot you never bothered to invest in one,” said Gibson, almost begrudgingly.

I smiled. “I haven’t really needed one before now. You’re the only person I know who owns one.”

Gibson pretended to be hurt. “And it’s not worth you getting a pager just for me?”

“No, not really,” I grinned.

Gibson just laughed. He pushed back in his chair so that he could open the top drawer of his desk. “You’re about to eat those words, Shidou.”

Uh oh. Gibson only called me by my last name when he was feeling particularly smug. “Do your worst,” I challenged him.

Smiling, Gibson pulled a tiny black pager from the drawer and held it out to me. “Here you go. You can have this one.”

I blinked in surprise, making no move to take it. “But won’t you need it?”

“I have another one at home,” Gibson replied. He grinned. “A better one.”

I grinned too. “Oh dear. Don’t tell me you’re one of those gadget geeks.”

Gibson chuckled. “Hey, what about you? You’re the one who has an iPhone.”

“You know as well as I do that I can’t work half the things on that phone,” I laughed. “I only bought one so I could get a Psych cover for it.”

Gibson shook his head and tutted. “Very impractical, Gee. Especially for you.”

“Oh, bite me.” I didn’t need to admit that I agreed with him on that one.

“Hey, do you want the pager or not?” said Gibson, waving it in front of my face.

“I want,” I admitted, holding my hand out for it.

Gibson pulled the pager back out of my reach. “First, you have to say, ‘Tod Gibson, you are without a doubt the greatest, smartest, most sexy man I have ever met’.”

I gave him an amused look. “You’re in a weird mood today. Has someone been slipping something in your coffee?” Not that I really minded. It was good to see him in such a positive mood. It had been a while since I had.

Gibson smiled. “Call it delirious from having to put up with the crap coffee here.”

Huh. I hadn’t realised the coffee from the machine wasn’t any good. I’d never liked the stuff. Maybe I was just lucky that the hot chocolate here was decent. “If I promise to bring you a Starbucks tomorrow, can I knock sexy off the list?”

Gibson’s face brightened. “If you’re bringing me Starbucks, then you can have anything you want!”

I grinned. “Well, in that case...” I suddenly leant across the desk and hit Gibson’s wrist from underneath. He dropped the pager in surprise and I caught it neatly in my palm. “Thanks, boss!”

“That’s cheating,” protested Gibson, rubbing his wrist absently.

I just beamed at him. “You already know you’re the best. You don’t need me to say so.”

He looked mollified by that. “Good to hear.” His business mode switched back on. “I’ll take a look at Kenichi and Chad’s rotas so I can figure out a good meeting time for all of us. I’ll let you know when I do and you can page L about it.”

I was surprised. “Why me? You could just do it yourself.”

“Well, you seem to be taking point on this case, so I’ll let you deal with contacting L from now on,” said Gibson. “Unless it’s urgent, of course. In which case, I’ll use the quickest means possible.”

I should have been grateful that he trusted me with the task, but instead, I just felt bad. Gibson was the one who’d let me on the team. Was I already stealing the case from him? “I’m sorry, Gibs, I didn’t mean to do anything out of line. It’s your case; I can just...”

Gibson cut me off and laughed. “Don’t be silly, Gee. I _want_ you to take point on this. L may be the best in the business, but he’s already proved he’s going to be awkward to work with. If anyone can get a handle on him, it’s you.”

I frowned, unsure whether to be happy about that or not. Was he giving me charge of a case or babysitting duty?

He could obviously see my uncertainty, because he added, “This is a good thing. I’m really proud of you, Gee.”

“Thanks, boss.” I smiled. That really did make me feel better. I respected Gibson more than anyone else I knew, so his faith in me meant a lot. “I just have one more question...”

Gibson smiled back, like he knew what I was going to ask. “Shoot.”

“How did _you_ get the pager number?” I asked curiously.

He continued to smile. He had known what I was going to ask and he wasn’t going to answer either. “Sorry, Gee. I just gave you a new toy to play with – my generosity isn’t limitless.”

That was fair. I could always harass him about it another day. “Fair enough. So have you got an instruction manual for this thing?” I waved the pager at him.

Gibson gave me an evil smirk. He knew I wasn’t savvy with toys unless they were compatible with bullets or gunpowder. “You’re the genius detective. Figure it out yourself.”

I scowled. “I’ll tell them not to put any whipped cream in your coffee tomorrow.”

“Now that’s just cruel...”


	6. Finally Functional

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The case feels much more functional now that everyone's finally working together in person. It quickly becomes apparent that it's not the picnic Gee originally imagined, but there's no 'I' in team, right?

The next morning, I got up and had my usual routine shower. I left my hair to dry by itself, as always. Because my hair’s short, it dries naturally in no time. Wrapped in a towel, I padded through into the kitchen area and shoved some bread in the toaster to cook while I got dressed.

I decided to put on my favourite top – red with only one sleeve, which wraps round the opposing shoulder, and a black mesh vest over it. My friend Emiiya, who I’d been at university with, had bought it for me from one of her visits back to her hometown in Bulgaria.

I teamed it with my leather grey skirt and my trusty big black boots. Kenichi thinks I’m crazy for wearing skirts when my job often calls for a lot of physical activity. Loose skirts are a bad idea, because they tend to put everything on show if you’re running or climbing or diving on the floor, which is why I go for tighter ones. 

You’d think tight skirts would restrict your movements, but all of mine have a satisfying amount of give. The only way I’d be likely to flash someone would be if I got knocked on my ass. Of course, this still happens. This is why I always wear tasteful girl boxers. Just in case.

I ate my now ready toast dry and one-handed, arranging my holster and gun with the other. I pulled on my trench coat, grabbed my shoulder bag along with both sets of keys and I was ready. I was staying true to my word. I was going to get Gibson some Starbucks.

The Starbucks I had in mind was only a few blocks down from my place. I’d actually worked there once upon a time, before I’d become a police officer. Back when I was in university and looking for any job that paid. I’d worked there for just over a year. I had really enjoyed it, but obviously it wasn’t a career I’d wanted for life.

The saddest part about giving up the job when I started my crash course in police training was surrendering my entitlement to free drinks. Though, fortunately, my friend Masami still worked there and could bag me free drinks even now. I’d just have to hope I caught her on shift.

My luck was in. I’d literally just walked through the door and taken a few seconds to adjust my coat when I heard a loud and very enthusiastic, “Heeeey!”

I looked to the counter and saw Masami stood behind it, waving at me frantically with a thousand-watt smile on her face. I beamed back in response. It was impossible not to. Masami was the most ditzy, feminine person I knew and she had the unwavering ability to brighten anyone’s day, whether it was intentional or not.

“Hey, Masami!” I greeted, joining her at the counter. The place was empty this early, so I was free to talk to her for a bit. “How’s things?”

“It’s all good!” Masami gave me a wide smile. “How about you? What have you been up to?”

I should probably mention that Masami is also the most gorgeous person I’ve ever met. She’s an unusual, but stunning combination of Japanese, Filipino and Puerto-Rican. She’s curvy in all the right places with flawless dark skin, perfectly curly black hair and eyes that literally sparkle. It’s times like these that I’m glad I don’t really care what I look like. Next to Masami, I must look like a total dog in comparison.

“Oh, you know; the usual. Chasing the bad guys, working with idiots...” I joked casually. “What about you?”

“Wow, your job always sounds so interesting!” Masami gushed, taking every word I said too literally as always. “It hasn’t been very exciting here. I started seeing this guy, but he just can’t keep his hands to himself...”

I let her carry on with her boy tirade. This was what I loved about Masami. She could talk for hours without needing much prompting and her ideas of conversation always seemed so trivial. That sounds a little insulting, but it’s honestly something I love. When you’ve got drama going on or you have to deal with the darker side of life, as I so often do, it’s nice to know that life can still be so easy for some people.

After her story about how’d she gotten rid of this touchy-feely guy, she started telling me about the latest pair of shoes she’d bought. I smiled at her words. We were so completely different, it was quite impressive. Nobody would have ever pegged us as friends.

Masami was popular and hung around with a very up-market crowd. But in spite of that, she still seemed to really like scruffy old me. Likewise, she wasn’t the kind of person I’d tend to befriend. We really didn’t have much in common. But her happy-go-luck personality and her devotion to friendship just totally sold me.

By the time her shoe story was over, I’d found myself to be part of a small queue. Thankfully, there was another girl serving and she took care of the new customers. Masami finally snapped into her business mode. “Sorry Gee, I’ve been talking for ages! What would you like?” 

“Don’t worry about it,” I laughed. “Could I have a hazelnut hot chocolate and a cappuccino please?”

“No problem, honey,” said Masami brightly, grabbing two Styrofoam cups. She started up boy conversation again while she worked. “So haven’t you got any sexy men in your life right now, Gee?”

I snorted. “God, no.” Masami could talk about guys for hours. Recently, I could barely offer enough to fill five minutes. 

Masami laughed. “You need to stop being so picky! Isn’t there anyone you’ve seen lately that you thought was remotely cute?”

I actually gave the question some real thought, just to please her. I didn’t come up with much. I could discount everyone I worked with for various reasons and my closest male friends were gay. “Erm, there was a guy in the supermarket last week that looked a bit like Rob Lowe?”

Masami didn’t seem very impressed with my poor answer. “Nobody you know?” I shook my head. “That’s rubbish. I’ll have to try and set you up with someone.”

“Oh, god, please don’t...” I laughed.

I had to spend the next few minutes talking her out of the idea. This wasn’t the first time she’d threatened to play matchmaker. I had enough trouble finding a guy I liked on my own, _without_ input from anybody else. Eventually, she let it go with my insistence that I was too busy for a boyfriend and a promise that she’d be the first to know if I found someone I liked.

She pushed the two drinks towards me, refusing to let me pay for either of them. I put them both into cardboard holders. Another good thing about Masami – she was always extra generous with the whipped cream. I was definitely going to be in Gibson’s good books.

“Thanks, Masami.” I gave her a grateful smile. “I’m sure I’ll be back again soon.”

“You’d better be!” replied Masami with a grin, giving me a one-armed hug over the counter. “Take care!”

“You too!”

I was feeling brighter than usual as I made my way to the police station. I liked to think I was generally quite an optimistic person – nothing compared to Masami, of course – but being around her always seemed to rub off on me even more. I was grateful for it. It could only help to start the day with a smile on your face.

And I wasn’t the only one. Gibson completely lit up when he saw me. I would have liked to have thought it was due to my presence alone... Unfortunately. I knew he was only interested in the damn coffee.

“You’re a star,” said Gibson gratefully as I handed him one of the Styrofoam cups. “You should be this nice more often,” he teased.

I grinned, taking the seat opposite him. “As opposed to my usual stubborn-ass self?”

“Got it in one.” Gibson winked at me before taking a swig of his drink. He sighed and made an appreciative sound. “Damn, this is good stuff. I take it back; maybe I should be nicer to _you_.”

“Well, I sure as hell won’t stop you,” I smiled, starting on my own drink. Mmmm. Chocolatey heaven in a cup. “So did you come up with a meeting time for us?”

Gibson nodded, took another drink and put his cup on the desk. Down to business. “As long as it’s okay with L, then we could actually arrange a meeting for this afternoon. Both Kenichi and Chad are only on low priority patrols from two o’clock onwards, so it won’t be a problem to take them off duty for a few hours.”

Wow. I hadn’t expected things to start happening so quickly. “And if he can’t do today?”

“Same scenario the day after tomorrow, but from eleven onwards,” answered Gibson. I nodded. “These times are okay for you too, right?”

I laughed. “Gibs, you could ask me to meet at three in the morning and it’d still be fine. It’s never too late for me. Or too early. Whichever way you wanna look at it.”

“Good,” said Gibson, pleased. “So do you want to page L now then?”

“Sure,” I said warily, fishing the pager out of my bag. I had a feeling he was more interested in seeing me work the pager than anything else. Tough. I’d gotten one step ahead and looked it up online last night. It was fairly basic. He wasn’t getting any laughs out of my technophobia today. I keyed in the number L had told me and sent the page. “Done.”

Gibson looked disappointed that I hadn’t had more trouble with it. Asshole. “Why do I get the feeling you cheated by asking someone how to work that thing?”

“I didn’t ask anybody,” I said innocently. It wasn’t exactly a lie. Technically, I hadn’t asked a person. I’d just asked Google. 

“I sense a loophole in that answer,” Gibson grinned.

I couldn’t help smiling back in response. “You know, sometimes I really hate how well you know me.”

He laughed. “Trust me; the feeling’s mutual. Sometimes your ability to psych people out is just downright scary.”

Scary was a word that had only been applied to me once – by Masami when she’d seen my toy corner at home. Particularly the bust model I have of Pinhead from Hellraiser. She’d told me I was a scary girl and that I should get into shoes and make-up more. I’d taken it as a compliment. I was going to do the same now.

Someone knocked on the door and I turned round, thinking for one bizarre moment that L had somehow managed to get here in the three minutes since I’d paged him. No, I do not have a one-track mind.

“Come in,” Gibson called.

The door opened and Shirley, the strawberry-blonde receptionist, leant into the room. “Tod, you have a phone call. Do you want me to put them through or should I ask for a message?”

I raised my eyebrows at Gibson. Shirley was new – I’d only seen her twice before now. She seemed to have gotten onto a first name basis with Gibson pretty quickly. The only other person I’d known to call him Tod had been Teddy Harper. Was Mr. Morals himself actually dipping his pen in the company ink?

Gibson didn’t notice the look on my face, however. “No, that’s fine. Put them through.”

Shirley nodded and shut the door after her. I rearranged my expression. I could harass Gibson about it later. “Want me to go wait in the staff lounge?”

“I’ll see who it is first,” said Gibson, picking up the receiver on his desk. “If I think it’s going to be a long call, I’ll wave you out and you can go and chill for a bit.”

I nodded. “Plan.”

Shirley had obviously forwarded the call then, because Gibson suddenly slipped back into his professional manner. “This is Superintendent Gibson; how can I help you?” His expression shifted to confusion. “May I ask who’s calling?” The answer obviously threw him. “Oh! I see. Well, you can actually ask her yourself; she’s here right now.”

He held the phone out to me. I blinked. Who would be calling me at the police station? Everyone I knew had my cell phone number. I took the receiver curiously. “Hello?”

“Georgia Shidou? This is Ryuzaki.”

Oh, right. _One_ person didn’t have my cell phone number. The Shirley diversion had caused me to briefly forget about L. Maybe I did have a one-track mind after all. “How is it fair for you to go by an alias, but then still refer to me by my real name?”

“My apologies,” said L. He didn’t sound very sorry to me. Though I was at least happy that he wasn’t using voice filters now. “What would you like me to call you?”

“Just Gee is fine,” I said stiffly. I glanced at Gibson and immediately wished I hadn’t. He looked far too amused. “What did you want to talk to me for?”

“You paged Watari, did you not? I didn’t recognise the code, so I knew it would be you, seeing as Mr. Gibson and yourself are the only ones who have Watari’s pager code,” L explained.

Well, duh. I knew he was responding to the page. “That’s not what I meant. What did you ask when Gibson said you could ask me yourself?”

“Ah. I actually wanted a contact number for you,” said L. “I was going to ask Mr. Gibson for it. I never realised you’d be at the police station at this moment.”

Okay. Hadn’t expected that one. I wondered why he hadn’t asked for it yesterday. Had I unnerved him as much as he had me? Nah. “Oh, sure thing.”

I recited my number to him. I didn’t bother asking if he had something to write it down with. I knew he wouldn’t need to. I stupidly looked at Gibson again. He gave me the thumbs up and mouthed ‘score’. I ignored him. He was enjoying this too much for my liking. Sometimes it was hard to believe he was nearly ten years older than me.

“Thank you,” said L. “Now I’m assuming you’ve decided on a meeting time for all of us?”

“Right. How does half two this afternoon sound?” I figured half an hour would be enough time for Kenichi and Chad to finish their patrols and then for all of us to get to my place. “If that’s too short notice, we could do Wednesday at half eleven.”

“No, today at half two is perfectly fine,” replied L. “And the meeting will still take place at your office?”

“Yep, that’s cool with me,” I assured.

“Good. In that case, I shall see you and the rest of the team at half past two.”

He hung up without saying goodbye. Kenichi had the same habit. It was only a little thing, but it had always irritated me. One of these days, I was going to hang up while he was still talking, just so I could get there first.

I decided to ignore it for today. I could preach about manners another time. “And we’re underway,” I told Gibson, handing the phone back to him.

Gibson still looked quite bemused. “Wow. You started to lay into him already. You knew before that he knew your full name.”

“I don’t care. If he’s not using his real name over the phone, then he’s not using mine either. Plus he got on my nerves yesterday. He had it coming.” I knew I sounded childish, but I didn’t really care.

Gibson just laughed. “This is definitely going to be entertaining. So where is this meeting taking place? I can’t see the famous L just waltzing into the police station.”

I couldn’t see him waltzing full stop. “My place. He wants to work the rest of the case from my office.”

“I see. Any particular reason?” Gibson asked meaningfully. I did not like the look he was giving me.

“Trust me; once you meet him for yourself, all of _those_ kind of thoughts will go straight out the window,” I said adamantly. “He said my office is in a fairly quiet area, but still public enough that nobody should notice the same people revisiting.”

Gibson didn’t seem half as interested in that answer. “Ah, okay. So it’s probably a good idea not to take one of the police cars, right?”

“Right,” I agreed. “I think you and the guys should dress down a little before we go too. I don’t want people knowing I’m bringing a bunch of police officers over there and I’m sure L would agree. I’ll take you all in my car and I’ll bring you back to the station afterwards.”

Gibson nodded. “Good idea.” He checked his watch. “We’ve still got a few hours before we’ll need to leave, so I’m gonna try and get some paperwork out of the way.”

“Okey dokey.” I got to my feet. “Make sure you guys look less cop by then. I’m gonna go reconcile with Dracula.”

Gibson chuckled. “How many times have you read that damn book?”

“If you knew the actual number, you’d be worried,” I told him.

“Fifty?” asked Gibson, making what he probably thought was an absurd guess.

I hesitated before admitting, “More.”

He whistled. “Jesus... You’re right; I don’t think I want to imagine the real number.”

**XXX**

The drive back to my office must have looked a real picture. My car is pretty small and all three guys are pushing six foot. To my annoyance, Chad called shotgun and then spent the whole ride playing with the fluffy green dice that I have hanging from my rear-view mirror. It was highly distracting. He’d also taken up Johnny’s job of trashing my music.

I threatened to shoot him and Gibson told me off. Where was the justice in that? If they didn’t start playing nice, then they could damn well walk back to the station after.

When I let us all into my office, I noticed an immediate problem – I didn’t have enough chairs. Well, crap. I’d never had to accommodate more than two clients at a time before. You don’t usually get a whole family on an outing to go and see the nice detective.

I’d have to invest in some cheap fold-away chairs. But for now, we were just going to have to make do. With my desk chair as well, there were still only enough for three people. That already left one of us standing. And that was before L even got here.

“I so need more chairs,” I sighed out loud. “Looks like I’ll be standing.”

“I’ll stand too,” Kenichi volunteered. I knew he was also thinking about catering for L too. I gave him a grateful smile.

“I can stand if you want to sit down, Gee,” Gibson offered.

“Thanks, boss, but it’s fine. I don’t mind standing,” I said. “Plus I’m kinda the hostess here.”

“Then I dibs Gee’s chair,” Chad announced, throwing himself into my chair. It groaned from the impact.

“Hey, be careful! My chair’s not used to that much weight,” I chastised him.

“Are you calling me fat? I’m hurt, Gee,” said Chad with a look of mock offence, though his eyes were twinkling. “This is a perfectly capable chair. Just because you’re such a runt doesn’t mean it can’t handle me too.”

“I swear to god, Chad...” I felt my hand twitch subconsciously as if I’d wanted to reach for my gun. It was just a habit, I promise... Short-tempered, who, me?

Gibson obviously noticed and understood the slight movement. “Gee, don’t be ridiculous,” he said calmly, settling into one of the chairs opposite Chad.

He knew I was only being overdramatic. When it comes to it, my bite can be worse than my bark, but most of the time, I’m just a load of empty threats. But hey, when you’re female and only just pushing past five feet tall, you’ve gotta do something to make it work with the big boys.

“Just don’t break my chair,” I said grudgingly.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything important,” came a new voice.

This time, I wasn’t the only one who instinctively went for my gun. Ha! The guys all made the exact same movement. Well, weren’t we all a paranoid little bunch? Working on the force does that to you. Word of advice; never go on a ghost train ride with a cop. You’ll end up a nervous wreck.

We all turned towards the intruder. L was stood in the doorway, face blank and completely unaware of the disturbance he’d just caused. What the hell did he have against my doorbell? He’d been a heartbeat away from having four guns pulled on him, the idiot.

“I have a doorbell, y’know,” I grumbled, easing my hand out from inside my coat. Nobody else relaxed. “You can chill out, guys. This is L.” Yeah, I may have forgotten accidentally on purpose to call him Ryuzaki. Maybe now he’d quit using my full name over the phone.

Oblivious to the almost painful silence, L asked, “May I come in?” He was still hovering in the doorway. Maybe he was secretly a vampire and couldn’t cross the threshold without being invited in.

“Sure, take a seat.” I waved him in. Nothing like allowing the undead into your home.

“Thank you.”

I pointedly didn’t look at anybody else as L climbed onto the only empty chair. I could only imagine the looks on their faces. I knew that if I caught anyone’s eye – especially Chad’s – I wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face. Now wouldn’t that be professional?

L was followed into the office by Watari, the man with the hat. Only without the hat, this time. He was older than I’d thought, but he didn’t seem in any way weak. He had neat white hair, half-moon spectacles and a tidy little moustache. He looked like a mix between a favourite grandparent and a maths teacher. Or maybe Albus Dumbledore, minus the beard.

Yes. You don’t need to point out that I’m a geek. That’s old news.

I hadn’t even known there’d been anybody else out there. I contemplated turfing Chad out of my chair so that Watari could sit down, but he dutifully took up position beside Kenichi, who was standing against the wall. He didn’t seem to mind. He gave Kenichi a small nod and I remembered that Kenichi had worked for L previously. He didn’t seem to have met Watari before either, because although he nodded back out of politeness, he didn’t show any signs of recognition.

Seeing as we were now all here, I retrieved my keys from my pocket and locked the front door. The blinds were still closed from protecting my hangover yesterday morning. I figured L would appreciate our little group having some privacy from the outside world.

I took off my trench coat and hung it off the hook on the wall above the printer, along with my shoulder bag. I left my gun holster on. I couldn’t have been safer, seeing as I was in a room with three highly skilled police officers, but hey, I didn’t want to feel left out.

I moved across so that I could lean against the wall opposite Kenichi and Watari and see everybody better. Man, were we a funny-looking little group...

L seemed happier with the door locked. “Can I please ask that everybody turn off their cell phones and place them here on the desk?” he requested, totally bypassing any introductions.

I didn’t see why we should. I opened my mouth to say so, but Chad actually beat me to it. “Why? Do you think we’re gonna try and broadcast this meeting somewhere?” Go Chad!

“No. I find it to be very distracting when a cell phone rings in the middle of a conversation,” L explained tonelessly.

Chad shot a glance at Gibson, who shrugged. Kenichi was the first to take out his cell phone and lay it on the desk in front of L. He seemed happy to do what he said. The rest of us followed suit. I placed my iPhone down with the nice green Psych cover facing upwards so that everyone could marvel at its awesomeness.

Nobody did. I docked brownie points off all of them.

“Thank you,” said L, once everyone’s cell phones were asleep on the desk. “Now... Let us get down to business. We’re all here together to make this easier, so let’s start discussing the case at hand.”

I had to fight very hard not to make a retort to that. He was only here working with us all in person because I’d practically bullied him into it. But I bit my tongue. We’d never get anything done if I kept making snide comments in response to everything he said. None of the others mentioned anything either. Either they weren’t as wound up by L’s remark as I was or they were thinking along the same lines as me.

“So what’s going to be our next move from here, Ryuzaki?” Gibson asked professionally, getting straight to the point. “We haven’t had much luck with any of our leads so far.”

L chewed the end of his thumb absent-mindedly. “We may have to resort to retracing our steps. Not the murder scenes – they’ve been completely covered at this point - but we can try and get some more interviews underway. I’m thinking acquaintances of Elizabeth Montgomery and Carter Burnham in particular. They were where the case started, so we should start back there ourselves.”

I nodded along with the others, but I felt quite disappointed. Even though the rest of us hadn’t been able to, I’d kinda been hoping L would come up with some brilliant new lead for us to follow. But the truth was that this case had hit a dead end. Even the world’s greatest knew the only thing we could do now was go back and start picking up scraps.

Thankfully, I’d been in this business long enough to know not to get too de-motivated by this. You never knew what interesting things you might pick up from people you wouldn’t have suspected to be useful.

“We’ve already interviewed the key people,” commented Chad. A brass lighter had appeared from his pocket and he was flipping it casually from one hand to the other. He didn’t smoke much – I knew he just liked to keep his hands busy when he was frustrated. All the same, I wished he could have chosen something other than a lighter to play with. “Do you really think we’ll get much out of interviewing them again?”

“I wasn’t planning on us interviewing the same people twice,” L replied. “I think we should try and find other sources we can question.”

“Like who exactly?” asked Chad. He’d now started flicking the lid of the lighter open and then closed again. 

“We haven’t questioned anybody from either of the victims’ places of work yet,” Kenichi pointed out.

The guys started to throw ideas back and forth. I wasn’t even listening anymore. I was too focused on the lighter Chad was playing with. “Chad, will you cut it out!” I said suddenly, interrupting their conversation.

I saw Watari turn his head in my direction curiously, but I looked away. L didn’t seem at all interested by my interruption. Gibson and Kenichi both knew better than to say anything and Chad looked slightly abashed. Let’s just say I’ve had a bad experience with fire in the past. It’s tended to make me a little edgy about it.

“Sorry, Gee,” Chad apologised, putting the lighter back in his pocket. 

“Maybe we could try interviewing some of Carter’s past girlfriends,” I suggested quickly, eager to return the conversation back and take the emphasis off myself.

I seemed to have chosen a good suggestion. “Interesting,” said L. “Do you think that could be useful?”

“Well, I still think there’s a possibility that Carter’s affair could be relevant to the case.” Yeah, yeah, I know I kept coming back to that. But it was the only piece of evidence I’d managed to find that nobody else had – of course I was going to hang onto it. “Obviously, we don’t know who he was having an affair with... But maybe one of his exes might know something useful.”

“It’s worth a try,” agreed Gibson. “It’s not like we have any other ideas right now.”

“Then we’ll have to contact his family so we can find ways of getting in touch with them,” said L.

That made me think of Melissa Burnham. “We could ask his sister. Apparently they were really close and she was quite helpful when I spoke to her.”

“Did you tell her you were a police officer?” Gibson asked pointedly.

“Maybe...” I mumbled. I knew Gibson wouldn’t be happy that I still used my old badge to get me credit.

“Then of course she wanted to help you,” said Gibson. “You know she wouldn’t have been as inclined to trust you if she knew you were freelance.”

“Either way...” I said loudly, ignoring him. He still wasn’t going to let go of the fact that I’d been investigating behind his back, even if it had helped out. “I think she’ll be our best bet for finding Carter’s ex girlfriends.”

“Do I get to interview someone?” asked Chad hopefully. Trust him to want the job that definitely involved women. Couldn’t he just be professional for once?

Either Gibson was oblivious to his motives or he didn’t see it as a problem. “We’ll see how many people we need to interview first and we’ll split them amongst us. We’re a team, remember. We all get a share in this.”

And what a damn weird-ass team we made.

“I’m sure with the four of you dividing this amongst yourselves, you won’t need me to do any interviewing,” L pointed out. “Though if any of the interviews are going to be recorded, I would very much like to have a look at them myself.”

Did this guy have a fear of people or something? Frowning, I forced myself to look at him. I realised I’d been looking anywhere _but_ at L. Honestly? He’d kinda been creeping me out. He just seemed too unusual to be one hundred percent human. I must have been spending too much energy on being hungover yesterday to have noticed.

“So what are you gonna be doing while we do all the work?” I couldn’t help asking.

Gibson gave a very audible groan and Chad chortled quietly to himself. Kenichi shot me a look that I couldn’t quite make out, whilst Watari simply looked pleasantly amused. I didn’t care about any of their reactions. L was starting to annoy me again already – I felt that gave me reason enough to speak my mind.

Annoyingly, L wasn’t at all perturbed by my accusatory tone. “I’ll continue to monitor the case from my own distance,” he said cryptically.

I wanted to ask how that was going to help and why we needed somebody ‘monitoring’ the case, but Gibson was now giving me a very warning look – one that clearly said ‘shut the hell up and stop causing trouble’. I realised that was what Kenichi was doing too. Well, hell, now they were all ganging up on me. Surely I couldn’t be the only one who was annoyed by this.

Regardless, I did what they wanted and kept my mouth shut. Gibson took the opportunity to take over. “If any of them are willing to come into the police station to be interviewed, then we’ll ask their permission to record the sessions. If not, we’ll make sure we compile extensive notes for you to review afterwards,” he told L.

L nodded. “I appreciate that.” He then climbed down from his chair. “Seeing as we’ve now become better acquainted and we have our next step planned out, I should be on my way.”

I noticed the guys all exchange surprised glances. I didn’t blame them. It had taken us ages to get L here and now he was making his escape already. Man, he really didn’t like to hang around. Though I guess it didn’t take a genius to see that he wasn’t one for small talk.

Hats off to Gibson though – his professional manner didn’t slip in the slightest. “Right. Thank you for meeting with us today. Hopefully, the case will run more smoothly from now.”

“Yes. It’s been a pleasure to meet all of you. You know how to contact me if you have anything to update.” L turned towards Kenichi. “Mr. Takano... Thank you also for the help you gave us in Karuizawa last year.”

Kenichi nodded politely. “My pleasure.”

L then turned to me. Oh god, now what did he want? “Gee Shidou?”

Urgh. I wished he’d stop addressing me by my whole name – he didn’t do that to any of the others. Though at least he knew better than to call me Georgia now.

“Yeah?” I said warily. I’d decided I didn’t trust him one bit. My previous respect for him was old news. His methods of working were completely unreasonable and I hated how Gibson was just letting him get away with it. He probably knew it too. As always, I was more than happy to speak my mind. “If you’re going to gloat over how you’re in charge of this case, I’ll shoot you in the leg.”

“Gee!” exclaimed Gibson, exasperated. Hey, I thought I was being quite generous. I could have said I’d shoot him in the head.

“Actually, I was going to say you’ll have to unlock the door so that Watari and I can get out,” said L, completely unfazed by my threat.

My face burned. Oh, well done, Gee, you just made a complete and utter fool out of yourself. I managed to pull my keys out of my pocket and fumbled with them in the lock. It was a lot harder to do knowing that everybody was watching and no doubt wanting to laugh.

I managed to get it unlocked and flung the door open rather ungainly. “Well... bye,” I said shortly.

L didn’t seem at all bothered by my sudden rudeness. He didn’t comment on my now very red face either. “Contact me if there’s anything new,” he simply repeated as he left. Watari gave me a half bow before following L out the door.

I shut it after them, maybe a little too hard. If the situation had been any different, I would have been interested in knowing how L had gotten here. I couldn’t quite imagine him and Watari walking companionably along the street. But I definitely wasn’t going to stand and peek through the blinds when I still had an office full of cops. I reluctantly turned to face them.

Oh, great, now they _all_ looked amused. Even Kenichi did. I’d always thought it would be easier to steal an egg from a velociraptor than it was to derive humour from Kenichi.

I gave them my best sulky look. “If I hear a word from any of you, I’m not giving you a ride back to the station.”


	7. Second Chances

The following few weeks sucked. I mean really sucked. We arranged interviews with as many of Carter’s ex-girlfriends as we could sniff out. Melissa Burnham was happy to help out with names, but it was obvious she was disappointed that no progress had been made since I’d last seen her. That didn’t help me feel any better.

We didn’t learn anything from the exes. We recorded all of the interviews and passed the videos onto L, but he concluded the same. We still scheduled periodic meetings after each new interview. The uncomfortable atmosphere in my office never got any easier. Every meeting would end up in awkward silence, at which point L would then leave and the rest of us would breathe a sigh of relief.

The police officers involved and I were all in unsaid agreement that L was truly unusual. Nobody had said anything outright insulting about him – though I’d certainly dropped a few bold comments – but there were always a lot of knowing glances exchanged when L was around.

It was quite annoying really. We’d all worked so hard to get L to work with us in person and now everybody seemed to sort of regret it. But nevertheless, he was the best detective for a reason, so we stuck with it and made the effort to work the case his way. Well... I was the only one who had to make the effort. Annoyingly, the others seemed more than happy to go along with his ideas, regardless of what they thought of him as a person.

At least that was what I thought.

The one afternoon, I was sat in my office, aimlessly re-typing everything we’d learnt so far. It’s a habit I have when I seem to be hitting a lot of dead ends. Some part of me always hopes that endless recounting of evidence will cause me to have a crazy epiphany. It hasn’t worked so far, but I can still hope.

My cell phone rang while I was working. I checked the caller ID before answering. It was Gibson. “Hey, boss, what’s up?”

“Hi, Gee,” he greeted wearily. “I was wondering if I could just have a quick word.”

“Sure. Shoot,” I said, completely nonplussed.

“It’s about Ryuzaki,” confessed Gibson. “I’m considering dropping him from the team.”

To say I was surprised was an understatement, especially after we’d worked so hard to get L working with us in person. Was that why he’d been going along with L’s way of thinking; just to humour him?

“What changed your mind?” I had to ask.

“Well, I know we’ve finally got him working with us properly now... But it’s hard to explain.” He sounded really riled by the issue. “We’re a team and we really need to work as one to progress in solving this case. He may be working with us in person now, but it’s obvious he’s not a team player and I think it’s starting to hold us back. He’s creating a very awkward atmosphere and it’s making it harder for the rest of us.”

So he _had_ noticed how awkward it had been lately. At least it wasn’t just me being finicky. “Are you really going to ditch the number one detective just because he’s not a people person?”

“You know it’s not just that,” said Gibson. “So far, he hasn’t been contributing any more than the rest of us. I don’t know whether he’s waiting for some different kind of opportunity to show off his tricks, but we really can’t afford to keep wasting our resources like this.”

Wow. So Gibson had minded about this all along. I really didn’t give him enough credit. “What do Kenichi and Chad think about this?”

“They don’t know yet,” said Gibson shortly. 

Uh oh. I wondered what that meant my part was in this. “So why are you telling me?”

“Because I want your opinion as a detective,” explained Gibson.

What did I think? Personally, I’d be glad to get shot of the weird detective that nobody seemed to like. Like Gibson said, he wasn’t bringing anything more to the case than the rest of us and he was making it more awkward for us to work together too. Not to mention it would make me the only detective on the case and I’d finally get point on it.

But what did I _really_ think? As a detective? He was still the world’s greatest and that could be really useful in the long run. He just didn’t seem to have unleashed his full potential on this case yet. If he did that, then he’d have a better chance of solving this than anyone. Maybe I could try and hint to him that he needed to look like he was more active on the case.

Plus, now that I’d heard Gibson’s opinion on the matter, I actually felt a little sorry for L. I remembered how angry and upset I’d been when Gibson had chosen another detective over me, even though it had been because he’d had my best interests at heart. But how would I feel if I got dropped from the case after being completely involved?

Not good, was the simple answer. Dammit. Why did I have to have such a soft side at times like this?

“I think maybe you should give him another chance,” I said reluctantly. “He’s gonna be more likely to solve this than any of us are. And maybe working on a team will be good for him in the long run. He’s probably just not used to people that much.”

Gibson was silent for a few seconds – I almost wondered if he’d been cut off – then he chuckled. “You really do surprise me sometimes.”

“Why?” I asked suspiciously.

“Because you just gave up the chance to take this whole case for yourself,” Gibson pointed out.

I smiled. I wasn’t going to admit that that had been my initial thought. “Please. Where’s the competition in that?”

**XXX**

The next morning, I was rewarded for my generosity by a very early phone call, though it definitely didn’t feel like a reward at that moment. I fumbled for my phone. The display told me that it was Gibson calling again and that it wasn’t even five o’clock yet. “Wha?” I mumbled groggily when I answered.

“Gee, this is important,” said Gibson hurriedly. “We’ve had another murder. The three of us are there now.”

Now that definitely woke me up. I abruptly threw the covers off and tumbled out of bed. “Where?”

I held the phone against my ear with my shoulder while I clumsily pulled on the first skirt I found, followed by my boots. I’d just keep the top I was already wearing. Gibson gave me the address and directions of the fastest way to get there. It was in Wazuka. I felt a little fearful... Kay and Laura lived near there.

“The victim?” I asked quickly.

“An elderly lady. We haven’t found any identification yet.”

I couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief, though of course, I knew that there were hundreds of people who lived there. “I’ll be with you as soon as I can,” I said before hanging up.

As I started to pull my holster on, I noticed the pager on my bedside table. I hesitated for a second.

“Dammit,” I muttered, throwing the holster back down onto the bed.

I grabbed the pager and jammed in Watari’s code. I knew I shouldn’t be wasting time getting to the crime scene, but this could be L’s chance to shine. It just depended on how quick he could be and if I could even talk him into it. Though if I had to wait long for him to reply, then screw it; I was going without him.

Thankfully, I didn’t. I’d just fixed my holster on and fitted the gun when my phone rang. I grabbed it and answered, not bothering with a greeting. “There’s been a murder in Wazuka,” I said quickly, guessing that since Gibson had only just told me, then L wouldn’t know yet.

“Are the police there now?” asked L, sounding professional for once. 

“Yeah. I’m about to head down too... But I think you should come with me,” I said all in a rush before I changed my mind. 

L didn’t reply straightaway. I knew I’d caught him off guard. “You want me to go?” he repeated.

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to say these next few words, but I knew I had to. Better to flatter him than kill his motivation by telling him Gibson wanted him off the team. “I think it may be useful. You might be able to spot things that we wouldn’t notice otherwise.”

To be honest, I thought that was unlikely. If he could find something that I wouldn’t have done, then I’d eat my iPhone. But him just showing up and putting the effort in would definitely help to change Gibson’s opinion. Urgh, why had I made it my duty to help L redeem himself?

“Surely you’re not trying to flatter me, Gee?” Dear god, he actually sounded amused. Why had he chosen now to finally show some damn emotion?

I ground my teeth together. That was all the flattery he was going to get. “No, I’m telling you that you need to pull your weight and show you’re actually doing something for the case. I’m also telling you that if you can get to either my office or somewhere on the way that I can pick you up in the next ten minutes, then I’ll even give you a ride.” I didn’t think I could be fairer than that.

There was a very long pause before L finally said, “I’ll be at your office in ten minutes sharp.” Then he hung up.

He’d _still_ hung up before me! God, he just made me want to scream. I managed to control myself though. I should have been celebrating really. After all, I’d just goaded L into investigating with us. Maybe I had some kind of magical persuasive powers.

I grabbed my investigating bag and shoved my phone into it, swinging it over my shoulder and going through into the lounge. I swiped both sets of keys from the bowl on the sideboard before heading downstairs and locking the apartment up after me.

I pulled an energy drink from the mini fridge in my office and downed it while I was waiting. I didn’t have to wait too long – true to his word, L turned up _exactly_ ten minutes after he’d hung up on me. Damn. His timekeeping was even more impressive that mine. I didn’t even mind that he didn’t use the doorbell this time.

“Let’s go,” I said quickly before L could even say anything. The quicker we turned up to the crime scene, the better it would look. I hurriedly locked the office behind me and stuffed the keys into my bag.

As I opened up the car, I realised that Watari was nowhere to be seen. I guess L didn’t need a chaperone everywhere he went. But it made me curious as hell as to how he’d gotten here. Maybe he’d turned into a bat and flown over.

I climbed into the driver’s side. Just as L was getting into the passenger seat, I remembered how he usually sat in my office. No way was he doing that in my car. “Make sure you sit properly. Nobody puts their feet up on my seats,” I ordered him bluntly. “And put your seatbelt on.”

“As you wish,” replied L simply with half a shrug, doing as I said.

I couldn’t help glancing sideways at him as I started up the car and pulled off. When he was sat properly, he almost looked like a normal person. Almost.

However, the novelty wore off pretty quickly and it soon turned out to be the most awkward drive ever. You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to tell that L wasn’t one for small talk. I’m not exactly someone who needs to be around constant conversation, but a little small talk would definitely have made the atmosphere in my car a little warmer.

But L didn’t venture anything and I couldn’t think of what to say either. He always created an awkward tension between everyone in the meetings – now it was twice as bad since it was just the two of us. So we spent the whole drive in a very uncomfortable silence. _Why_ had I decided to do this?

I’d never been so relieved to get to a murder scene. I pulled up at the bottom of the driveway, behind one of the police cruisers. Gibson’s, if the number of empty coffee cups on the dashboard was anything to go by. L followed me out and down towards the house. I still had the uncanny feeling that I was chaperoning a problematic child. I mused over the idea of telling him to be on his best behaviour, but I doubted he would get the joke.

Kenichi and Chad were stood out on the front porch. They both looked surprised to see L, but neither of them said anything about it. Instead, Chad wolf whistled as we joined them on the porch. “Wow, Gee’s showing skin!” he exclaimed, grinning.

“Very mature, Chad,” I said sarcastically.

I hadn’t even put any thought into what top I’d been wearing to sleep in. It was loose with strappy sleeves and a very open back. It was very comfortable to sleep in, since it was so light, and possibly even good for a night out (as it wasn’t actually a pyjama top – it was a hand-me-down I’d had from my Auntie Maggie years ago) but it probably wasn’t ideal for investigating a crime scene.

Thankfully, I knew Gibson and Kenichi wouldn’t give a damn about what I was wearing, as long as I’d turned up. Chad only commented because, well... it was Chad.

“Show some respect,” Kenichi told Chad sharply. “There’s a dead body in there.”

Chad winced and had the grace to look ashamed. “Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood a bit...”

That said it all. I knew this wasn’t going to be good. “Is it really bad?” I asked, knowing the answer.

Kenichi gave a stiff nod. “Worst one so far.”

That didn’t make going inside sound appealing. But I wasn’t going to drop out. I’d seen plenty of dead bodies before – it never exactly got easier, but I knew I could handle it.

L, on the other hand... He didn’t seem like he joined in with hands-on investigation much, so would he have even seen a dead body before? I had to remember that in this case, he was just a civilian. Had I made a mistake in bringing him here? I already suspected he was somewhat of a broken toy – traumatising him with a corpse probably wasn’t going to help.

I glanced sideways at him. He was stood with his hands in his pockets, looking merely bored. Huh. On second thought, maybe trauma would just bounce right off him.

“Right,” I said, mentally preparing myself. I turned back to L. “Let’s go.”

He nodded and dutifully followed me through into the house. Gibson came out into the hallway just as got inside. He gave L a startled look, but he quickly composed himself and didn’t comment on the abnormality of his presence.

“I hope you’re ready. It’s not pretty,” he said grimly, holding up gloved hands that were dotted with blood. “And make sure you’re both wearing gloves.”

“Already got us covered, boss,” I assured him, patting my shoulder bag whilst visually searching for clues around the hallway.

Gibson nodded. “Try not to touch too much in the lounge before forensics get here.” That obviously meant that the lounge was the scene of the murder. “I’ll give you room to investigate for now.”

He gave L a slightly disapproving look. His eyes were hidden behind his hair and he still appeared completely uninterested in his surroundings. But since I was closer to him – not to mention also a fair bit shorter – I could see underneath his bangs and I could see that his eyes were actually restless, taking in all of the things that I was. We really didn’t give him enough credit.

“Oh and be careful near the window; there’s still broken glass everywhere,” Gibson added.

And with that, he left us to it. I didn’t mind getting stuck on my own with L again this time. We had work to do.

“Come on,” I told L, pulling two pairs of disposable gloves out of my bag and handing one to him. “Put these on and let’s get stuck in.”

I heartily regretted my attempt to be jovial once we went through into the lounge. My eyes were automatically drawn to the armchair. It was impossible not to look. It looked like the poor old woman hadn’t even had enough time to get up from her seat before she’d been struck back down. But that wasn’t the worst part...

It was her face. I could tell even from this distance that there was literally nothing left of it. Whoever had broken in had butchered her face until it resembled nothing more than a slab of raw meat. I felt bile rise in my throat and I quickly swallowed it back down. It had been a long time since I’d seen something this horrific. No wonder the others had all looked so grim.

I turned to L, but this time, I couldn’t see his eyes at all. I think he’d purposely hid behind his hair. He was still hunched over, gloved hands awkwardly loose at his sides, but he looked very tense. I could at least tell that much. I guessed my hunch had probably been right. This was either his first dead body or at least his first gruesome one. Dammit... What had I been thinking, bringing him here?

I took a deep breath before reluctantly saying, “Why don’t you check out some of the other rooms and I’ll investigate in here? We’ll get more done if we split it between us.”

I really, _really_ didn’t want to investigate this bloodbath of a room by myself. But I was feeling increasingly guilty about goading L into this. I’d never expected it to be this bad.

“Alright,” said L slowly, slouching off out of the room. No arguments. I couldn’t exactly blame him.

I returned my attention to the room itself, taking in everything systematically. The broken window meant that the murderer had forced their way in. The fact that the old woman was still in her chair suggested she’d been killed the moment they’d gotten inside. Besides the blood and shards of glass everywhere, the rest of the room looked undisturbed.

So what the hell was the motive for this? Had the Kasagi killer really broken into this house just to bludgeon this poor woman to death and then leave again? How sick could you get? Worse still, there was a Zimmer frame stood in the corner of the room. The woman had barely been mobile. How would she have even been able to attempt to stand up for herself?

I reluctantly made my way towards the armchair so that I could examine the body closer. It was so thickly covered in blood that it was difficult to be able to spot anything that could be helpful.

But then I did notice something. The blood splattering looked odd somehow. Given the way she’d been killed, it made sense for the woman’s face to be covered in the most blood, then the shoulders where the blood would seep to, then the chest, and so on.

Yet there was a very large, very dark patch of blood on the left side of the woman’s chest. It couldn’t just have been from the blood that had spilled from her face – it was too concentrated in one place. I very carefully peeled away one side of the woman’s shirt to reveal multiple stab wounds around her heart.

I bit my lip, confused. This didn’t make sense. Nobody would have survived their face being so severely mangled, so why had the killer proceeded to stabbing her so many times as well? Just to ensure her death? It still seemed kind of pointless. Or had she actually been killed from the stab wounds and they’d then destroyed her face afterwards? But why?

Feeling that this case was getting more and more complicated, I combed the rest of the room. I didn’t find anything else of use. I had all of my equipment for dusting for fingerprints with me, but I didn’t use it. Best leave that to forensics. I hoped L was getting along better than I was.

I went back out into the hallway. I couldn’t hear him downstairs anywhere. I peeped round the door into the kitchen. “Ryuzaki?”

“Yes?” said a voice from right behind me.

I jumped and banged my hand painfully against the door handle. Like I hadn’t been edgy enough as it was. “Don’t do that!” I protested. “Did you find anything?”

“The rooms upstairs have been torn apart. It seems the killer has been looking for something,” said L.

“You reckon they’ve been stealing?” I asked.

“If they have, then they haven’t been doing a very good job. I found a collection of expensive-looking jewellery that was left untouched,” replied L.

“That’s weird. Any thief would definitely take that opportunity. I wonder what they could possibly be after...” I said. “Did you notice if there was anything that was obviously missing?”

“Her purse had been emptied. There was no money inside and no identification or credit cards either,” said L. “All that was left was a coupon for a garden centre.”

“They took all her ID too? Did you manage to find a passport or anything like that?” I questioned. Gibson had told me over the phone that they hadn’t found any identification yet, but I didn’t know how much they’d searched the house.

L shook his head. “It’s going to be a problem identifying her. It may even be a struggle using dental records.”

No kidding. I’d be surprised if there were even any teeth left in her face after what had happened to her. We’d have to ask around to find out more about her identity. It wasn’t often we had no identification to go on. Actually, come to think of it, it sounded like it was deliberately difficult.

“I think I’ve figured something out...” I said, mulling it all over in my head. “Do you think maybe the killer didn’t want us to know who this woman was?”

“What do you mean?” asked L.

“Well, we can’t find any forms of identification for her. Nobody’s going to be able to recognise her without a face. Plus the damage that’s been done is going to make it hard to identify her even with dental records,” I explained.

“It definitely sounds like a valid theory,” L agreed.

“And get this,” I continued. “I originally thought that she’d been bludgeoned to death, but I found several stab wounds in her chest. Why would the killer bother doing both? It’s highly unlikely she would have survived either. So what if they killed her and then went the extra length to make her face unrecognisable?”

L was silent for several long moments. “Do the police officers know about the stab wounds?”

“I’m not sure. I only noticed myself because the blood splattering didn’t look right,” I said. “Let’s go find out.”

We left the bloodbath behind and went back outside to find our police officers. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, but Gibson beckoned us over when he saw us. “Any luck?” he asked, holding out a disposal bag for us to get rid of plastic gloves.

I did so gladly and answered his question with one of my own. “Did you see the stab wounds on the victim?”

“Stab wounds?” Gibson repeated sharply. “Where?”

“On the left side of her chest, obviously aiming for the heart,” I described.

“Why would they stab her if she was already dead?” asked Chad. “She wouldn’t have survived having her face ripped apart like that.”

“Well, actually, we think it happened the other way round,” I said, pointedly turning to L. If he got more involved in this and showed that he definitely deserved some credit, then maybe Gibson would let him off the hook and keep him on the team.

Thankfully, L didn’t let himself down. He explained to the others about the missing identification, the strangely untouched jewellery, how we’d came to the conclusion that the manner of the murder suggested that the killer didn’t want us to identify this woman at all...

Gibson’s face got more and more serious. “I’m beginning to think we really do have two killers on our hands,” he said eventually. “This just doesn’t add up. Our killer hasn’t gone to such lengths with any of the other victims.”

“But the multiple stab wounds match that of the other victims,” I pointed out. “They’re still being killed in the same way.”

“So why has he gone to the extra lengths this time?” asked Kenichi. “What was so special about this woman that the killer felt the need to make it so difficult to identify her?”

We entered into a debate as everyone started throwing ideas back and forth. I was at least pleased that L also joined in, redeeming himself even more, but without a full autopsy on the victim and interviews with whatever acquaintances of hers we could find, then all of our talk amounted to nothing more than speculation.

“We’ll have to see what forensics say,” decided Gibson. “They should be here shortly. Once they’ve had ample time to examine the body, they should be able to tell us for definite which was the cause of death.”

“When will we find out?” enquired Chad.

“Not today, at any rate,” answered Gibson. “Not if we want the answer to be a hundred percent correct.”

“So what’s our next step?” I asked.

“Right now? You all go back to bed so you’ll be rested up and ready to figure out this case tomorrow,” said Gibson, only half joking. “Seeing as we can’t even find her contacts, since we don’t know who she is, we’ll have to start with her next door neighbours and see how well they knew her.”

“Even if they can’t identify her themselves, they may be able to recommend family or friends that can,” added Kenichi.

“Exactly,” said Gibson. “So I actually think you should all head back for now. I’ll wait here for forensics to turn up. I’ll contact you all if we find anything new.”

I didn’t really want to leave Gibson on his own with this mess. Thankfully, Kenichi seemed to have the same idea. “I’ll stay with you,” he offered.

“Thank you, Kenichi,” Gibson said graciously.

“Just remember to share your coffee with him, Gibs. Don’t hog it all,” I said teasingly. I definitely didn’t blame Chad now for trying to lighten the mood earlier – it was weird seeing everyone look so completely serious.

Gibson managed a small smile though. “I’ll try. Thanks for getting down here so quickly on such short notice. You too, Ryuzaki. I appreciate the support.”

“That’s quite alright,” said L, seeming neither pleased nor bothered by the comment. I almost wanted to shake him and tell him to be more grateful. I didn’t, of course.

“So where do you want me to drop you off?” I asked L, as we headed back towards my car.

“Back at your office is fine,” said L. “I’ve contacted Watari. He’s already waiting there with a car.”

Huh. I hadn’t seen him contact anyone. And why couldn’t he have got Watari to pick him up from here himself? It would save me having to suffer another ridiculously awkward journey with him.

As I’d expected, the drive back wasn’t any better. You’d think we’d have a fairly good topic of conversation to discuss considering what we’d just seen. I was seriously contemplating driving us off the road and into a ditch.

Fortunately, L interrupted my thoughts before I did see any ditches. “Thank you.”

“For the lift?” I asked, completely nonplussed. “That’s okay. It’s not like I’ve been going out of my way – we _are_ going to the same place.”

“For giving me a chance,” corrected L.

Now I hadn’t expected that one. “What do you mean?” I questioned. Surely he couldn’t have known what Gibson had said to me yesterday.

“I know that Mr. Gibson is considering taking me off the case,” said L.

“What makes you think that?” I asked, trying my best to sound casual. How the hell did he know that? Gibson hadn’t even told Kenichi or Chad about it – he’d only told me. Had he been tapping into our phone conversation?

“I can tell,” replied L simply. Oh, okay, just me being paranoid then. “Everyone seems to think I don’t understand people, but I actually understand a lot more than most would. I can see that Mr. Gibson thinks it isn’t working out.”

I glanced at him curiously out of the corner of my eye. His expression was still unreadable as ever, but for once, I actually felt like I was talking to a real person, not a broken robot. “Does that bother you?”

“Not particularly. It’s not unusual. A lot of people don’t really agree with the way I work,” explained L.

I made a non-committal noise in response and didn’t say anything else. I felt it would be a little harsh to point out that I was one of those people. I actually felt a little sorry for L, even if he reckoned it didn’t bother him that Gibson wanted him out.

“I also get the feeling that you convinced me to help with the investigation today to prove Mr. Gibson wrong,” L continued when I didn’t venture anything. “Which is what I’d like to thank you for.”

“Oh... Um, that’s okay,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed. Maybe I preferred the awkward silence after all. He could just go back to being robot boy. I was fine with that.

But L obviously wasn’t ready to drop the issue just yet. “If I was kicked off the team, you’d be the only detective on the case,” he said pointedly.

“Yeah, well... Where’s the competition in that?” I said, giving him the same line I’d given Gibson yesterday.

To my absolute amazement, L chuckled. I mean _actually_ chuckled. I was starting to wonder if I should maybe pull over and check if he was alright.

“A fair point. Where indeed...” he agreed. I saw him turn his head to look directly at me. Feeling uncomfortable, I pointedly kept my eyes on the road ahead of me. “Your tattoo is very nice, by the way.”

“My what?” I asked, startled.

“The wolf tattoo on your back. It's very nice," L repeated patiently.

And to my immense horror, I blushed. What was wrong with me? I never blushed! He'd just caught me off-guard... I'd completely forgotten that my tattoo had been on display. I generally kept my tattoos covered up unless I was on a night out.

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

“You’re welcome,” replied L.

We then spent the rest of the drive back in an even more awkward silence than we had on the way there. I was starting to think I _would_ prefer no competition.


	8. A Clue? No

Sunae Michishio. Eighty-three years old. No known family still residing in the Kyoto region. Well liked by both her neighbours and friends. Spent her happy retirement solely on caring for the garden outside her house.

In short, absolutely no motivation for murder.

This Kasagi killer was starting to really piss me off. So far, the only pattern between the victims that we could concede was that none of them had deserved to die. That didn’t really narrow it down much. That statement applied to most people.

The missing identification was interesting. Forensics agreed that there was absolutely none to be found and, without the help of Sunae Michishio’s neighbours, we wouldn’t have been able to identify her in the condition she was found in.

The only confusion we had was _why_ the killer didn’t want us to identify her. It didn’t make any sense. We’d considered identify theft and the city was now on red alert. If Sunae’s name was given anywhere, then the police were to be notified immediately. But we’d seen already that our killer was one smart cookie. Surely he’d figure out that we’d go to these lengths and wouldn’t be dumb enough to try and use Sunae’s identity for fraud.

So once again, that put us at another dead end. I was sick and tired of hearing that. Couldn’t we get one damn clue, just for once?

But no. I was stuck on this stupid case with stupid L and the stupid police and stupid friends. I knew my friends had nothing to do with this, but in my last phone conversation with Johnny, he’d been offended by my grouchiness and had suggested I was PMSing. I’d refused to speak to him since.

And no, as much as it may sound like it, he wasn’t right. I was just really fed up.

The police guys all knew me well enough to leave me be when I was like this. Even Chad wasn’t stupid enough to drop any comments about it. But, unfortunately for genius detective L, he definitely didn’t have a clue in the social department and didn’t seem to have picked up on the ‘don’t bait the angry female detective’ rule.

I was feeling particularly foul the one morning and it was obviously showing – both Gibson and Chad had volunteered to do a coffee run. Neither of them seemed to have realised that it only took one person to do so. That left me with L and Kenichi. I couldn’t imagine a more boring atmosphere.

So L decided to take this chance to play question master. Or play the fool. I don’t really know what he was trying to do, but whatever it was, it was annoying me.

“You must be very safety conscious,” he commented, looking uninterestedly around the office.

“I must be,” I replied loftily. I wasn’t really in the mood to get into it. It was a touchy subject for me – it always dredged up bad memories.

“One smoke alarm is adequate for a single room,” L continued, infuriating me further. “Having three isn’t really necessary.”

“One’s a carbon monoxide detector,” I pointed out testily. If he thought this was bad, he’d be amazed by my apartment. I had five different ones up there. Better to be paranoid than sorry.

“So it is,” L conceded. “My mistake.”

I shot him an annoyed glare. I could hardly believe that the world’s best detective couldn’t tell the difference between a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide detector. Was he just trying to get me to venture more on the subject? Well, that was all he was getting out of me.

Unfortunately, Kenichi decided he’d chip in for me. “Gee doesn’t like fire.”

I gave him an exasperated look. Well, no shit, Sherlock. How was that meant to help? It was hardly elaborative and not exactly news to anyone. A child could have picked up on the fact that I have a fear of fire.

“I see...” said L, seeming quite interested in that piece of information. Damn you, Kenichi.

“Well, no one really _likes_ fire,” I said, injecting as much sarcasm into my tone as I could.

“Actually, I’d say that pyromaniacs maybe have a fondness for it,” L pointed out.

I glared at him. Was he actually making a joke? If he was, I wasn’t laughing. Why did he decide that when he finally developed a sense of humour, it was going to be aimed at me?

Kenichi chuckled and that was just the cherry on top of the cake. If I stayed in this room any longer, I was going to snap and my money was on L being the one I’d take my frustration out on. I pushed my chair back and abruptly got to my feet. “I’m going outside for some fresh air.”

It was a lame excuse and we all knew it, but I didn’t really care at this point. I had to go and clear my head a bit if I didn’t want to unleash angry monster Gee. Only a handful of people had been on the receiving end of _her_ before and it wasn’t pretty.

I strode off down the road, in the opposite direction than towards the centre of town. Driving is never a good idea when you’re in a really bad mood, so walking it was.

I started to feel a little better after a while. Being out of the stifling atmosphere in the office felt good and it gave me the chance to let my frustrations unwind. I was now feeling a little guilty for taking it out on the others. We were all feeling aggravated at how slowly the case was going – there was no need to start taking it out on each other.

Unfortunately, I was the only one who had done so, as of yet. I sighed. I guess that made me the temperamental one. I wished I could make a bigger contribution to the case to try and prove my worth. Especially now that I’d been acting like an angry bitch.

Lost in thought, I trotted past a couple of shops, barely even registering that they were there. But then the name of one of them caught my eye and I slowed my pace. Taiyou Stationary... Why was that so familiar? I never really came round this way. The last time I had had been to investigate Elizabeth Montgomery’s house. Her place was just a few blocks down from here.

Then it suddenly clicked. That was it! Taiyou Stationary was the company name that had been printed on the bottom of the love notes I’d found in Carter Burnham’s bedroom.

I stopped completely this time and back-tracked a few steps, inspecting the shop from outside. Maybe Elizabeth really was the one who’d sent the love notes to Carter... Her place was literally just down the road from here after all. I knew it was a long shot, but the shop was tiny and seemed to be an independent branch – I was guessing that it didn’t get much business. Whoever worked here may know if Elizabeth had visited the shop or not. It couldn’t hurt to try.

An old-fashioned bell tinkled as I pushed through the doorway. My guess about the shop’s business rate was right – the elderly shopkeeper behind the counter looked both surprised and delighted to see me.

“Afternoon,” he greeted brightly. “You’re not lost, are you?”

I smiled. Yeah, he definitely didn’t get much business. “Actually, I’m with the police.” I fumbled the police badge out of my pocket as confirmation. It was a good thing I always kept it with me.

“Is everything alright?” asked the shopkeeper, looking concerned.

“Don’t worry; you’re not in trouble or anything,” I reassured. “I just wanted to ask some questions about your clientele.”

“Well, I don’t have much in the way of clientele, but go ahead,” said the shopkeeper with a rueful smile.

“So you don’t get much business?” I questioned, just to be sure.

“Not anymore,” said the man, sighing. “My only custom nowadays comes from a bare minimum of the locals. Times are hard for shops like mine. All the big companies and offices order the stationary they need from more well-known branches. Most people don’t need much stationary now – technology’s just taking over."

I understood his pain. I knew I preferred the traditional pen and paper to my temperamental laptop. “Would you say you’d remember most of the customers you’ve had lately?”

“Well, I haven’t had very many over about the last eight months. That’s when business really seemed to flop,” he explained. “What exactly did you need to know?”

“Have you had anyone American in recently?” I asked. There were a lot more American people in Japan than there used to be, but it was still something distinguishing that people always seemed to remember.

“As a matter of fact, I did a while back,” confirmed the shopkeeper. “Mousy-looking girl. Said she lived near here.”

Bingo. That sounded like Elizabeth to me. “Do you know how long ago exactly? Or what she purchased from you?”

“I really can’t say. Some pens and notepads maybe... She came in a couple of times, but it was a good few months ago at least,” said the shopkeeper. “I haven’t seen her recently.”

I’d be worried if he had, considering she’d been dead for the last few weeks. This was definitely sounding promising though. The love notes in Carter’s room had all been dated from this year. It was still a possibility.

“She in trouble, this girl?” asked the shopkeeper.

“I’d say her trouble’s passed now,” I replied. I couldn’t bring myself to tell this nice old man that one of his few customers had been horribly murdered. “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” the shopkeeper offered helpfully.

I felt like I should buy something while I was here, since I owed him one, so I ended up buying a pack of pens. I always seem to lose pens, so they could only come in handy. The shopkeeper was ecstatic and happily gave me his name and contact number for if I had any further questions. He bid me a cheery goodbye as I left.

Things were starting to look fishy. I was beginning to think that Elizabeth really was involved with Carter somehow... But I still didn’t have any concrete evidence. So far, this could all still be put down to coincidence.

Maybe if I went back to Elizabeth’s house, I could find something she’d written on and then visit Melissa Burnham again to compare the handwriting to that on Carter’s love notes. It was still a bit of wishful thinking, but I’d learnt long ago to trust my instincts.

I checked the time on my phone. I hadn’t even been out of the office for an hour so far. Kenichi wouldn’t start worrying about me just yet. And I couldn’t see L worrying fullstop. Elizabeth’s house was probably five minutes away. I could go and do some more investigating right now.

I didn’t even need to make the decision. My feet were already taking me in the direction of Elizabeth’s house. At my brisk pace, it actually took a little under five minutes. But when I got near to the house, I found a complication that I hadn’t planned for. Two girls were out on the front of Elizabeth’s drive. What were they doing there? I could hardly break in again while there were witnesses around. Maybe I could scare them away with my police badge...

As I got closer, I realised that they were actually laying out flowers on the drive. I felt a stab of pity. They must have been friends of Elizabeth’s. But I realised that this could be a good opportunity to ask questions.

One of them noticed me as I walked over to them and regarded me suspiciously. “Can we help you?”

I guess it was hard to trust strangers after your friend had been murdered. I showed them my police badge. “I’m investigating the death of Elizabeth Montgomery. I take it you knew her?”

The girl who’d already spoken to me nodded her head sadly, whilst her friend looked very close to tears. “She was our best friend. She didn’t really spend much time at this house, but we can’t face going to the cemetery to leave flowers there.”

“And we don’t think Shou would like us taking the flowers to his,” said the other girl tearfully.

“Do you know much about Shou Tanaka?” I asked, taking the opportunity to find out more about Elizabeth’s weird boyfriend.

“He’s very serious,” said the more timid girl. “We never liked him very much.”

“He’s a real jealous guy,” added the other girl. “He didn’t even like San hanging around with us, let alone other guys.”

“I’m sorry... San?” I repeated, confused.

“Oh, that’s what we used to call her,” explained the first girl. “She loved Japanese culture – she hated being American. We think that’s why she wanted a Japanese boyfriend so much. She used to go around calling everyone kun and senpai.”

“And she asked us to call her San,” the other girl chimed in. “It seemed quite important to her, so we humoured her at first. Then it just kinda stuck.”

Sounded like a serious otaku case to me. Not to mention slightly racist... Even if she’d had the best intentions. At least her friends didn’t seem to have minded. In fact, they seemed to regard the idea quite fondly.

“Can you think of anybody that may have wanted to hurt her?” I asked, though I was sure I knew the answer.

Sure enough, both girls shook their heads. “She was just so sweet. Everybody loved her.”

“What about her boyfriend?” I pressed. “You don’t think he could have been capable of it if she’d upset him at all?”

“I don’t think so,” replied one of the girls. “We only met him a few times, so we don’t know him that well, but he did care about Elizabeth. And she really doted on him – I couldn’t see her upsetting him in any way.”

Suppressing a sigh, I thanked them for their help and offered my condolences before leaving them to it. I wasn’t going to break into the house with them still there. Maybe I could go back to get my car and go and find Carter’s love notes first instead, I thought as I turned the corner. I could come back to Elizabeth’s later on...

Then realisation suddenly struck me so hard that I felt as if I’d been clubbed over the head. The love notes! They’d all been signed with an ‘S’. And Elizabeth had gotten everyone to refer to her as San!

Holy shit, I’d solved it!

I raced back to the office, my mind working as fast as my legs. Elizabeth was the one having an affair with Carter! Did that mean that Shou really was the murderer, in spite of what we’d thought? Surely it did! Elizabeth’s friends had just confirmed that he was the jealous type. He may have cared for Elizabeth but jealousy was a powerful emotion – it made people do stupid things. And it would explain Carter’s murder too!

When I finally reached the office, despite being in such a rush to tell the others about my big revelation, I still paused for just one second to ring the doorbell before bursting inside. It was a routine I’d picked up to rub it in to L that other people managed to find the time to use it.

All three cops automatically drew their guns. I was glad it wasn’t just me that seemed to have this habit.

“Dammit, Gee!” said Gibson ruefully, restoring his gun to its holster. “What happened to you?”

“It’s Tanaka!” I exclaimed breathlessly. “Shou Tanaka! He’s the killer!”

“ _What_?” came the simultaneous reply.

“What makes you think so?” asked L sharply.

“The stationary store... Carter’s love letters... The shopkeeper knew Elizabeth – lived right by there...” I was alternating between trying to catch my breath and explaining the situation as quickly as possible.

“Gee, just sit down for a second!” said Gibson, looking exasperated as he tried to understand what I was saying.

“I’m fine!” I insisted, drawing a long breath and pulling my thoughts together. “I found the stationary store that was printed on Carter’s love notes... It’s right by Elizabeth’s house! And the shopkeeper knew her; he said she’d been in there a few times.”

The others stared at me. “So you think Elizabeth was having the affair with Carter and that’s why Tanaka killed them both?” asked Gibson slowly.

“That doesn’t really explain his reason for murdering them,” said L before I could reply.

“Of course it does!” I protested crossly. “Just because you’re emotionless, it doesn’t mean that everybody else is!”

“Calm down, Gee,” Gibson interrupted quickly. I noticed Chad cough to conceal a snigger, which didn’t help. “This still isn’t exactly hard evidence – we can’t jump to this conclusion just yet...”

“I have more to say if you’d all just let me finish!” I carried on irritably, not caring that I was being rude. They needed to hear this! “I found some of Elizabeth’s friends and they told me not only that Tanaka was a jealous boyfriend, but also that Elizabeth got everyone to call her San!”

A look of dawning came across Gibson’s face. “So that means...”

“The letters!” said Kenichi brusquely. “You said they were all signed with an ‘S’.”

“Now is _that_ enough to go on?” I practically pleaded, glad that they’d caught on so quickly.

“Yes, it is,” L answered immediately. At his words, everybody jumped out of their seats. 

“But what about the other murders?” Chad reminded. “Why would Tanaka have killed all those other people?”

“We’ll worry about that later,” said Gibson briskly. “We’ve already discussed the possibility of there being multiple killers. Let’s concentrate on the one we’re sure of for now.”

“I’m coming too!” I announced quickly. No way was I getting left behind.

“So am I,” added L. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised – he really was making the effort to involve himself in the case more since I’d persuaded him to help investigate the last murder scene.

Gibson looked annoyed, but I knew he wouldn’t want to waste anymore time arguing. At least he knew he could at least trust me to handle the situation professionally. “Fine. Let’s go!”

“We should use my car; it’s closer,” I pointed out as I grabbed my holster off the coat hook. Gibson had parked the police cruiser around the block to avoid arousing suspicions around my place. He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. “You can drive if you want. Let’s just get to Tanaka’s!”

Gibson agreed (I should think so – I never let _anyone_ drive my car) and we all hurried out of the office with me hastily locking up behind us. I threw my car keys to Gibson.

“Shotgun!” called Chad.

“You can’t call shotgun at a time like this!” I shouted. “And I’m not sitting in the back of my _own_ car!”

“Standard shotgun rules still apply, no matter the situation,” Chad insisted. Urgh, he was such a child.

“I don’t fucking care...” I started, but Gibson cut across my protests.

“Just get in the back, Gee,” he ordered.

I gaped at him, but he ignored me and climbed into the driver’s seat. Why was he picking on me rather than Chad? That was hardly fair. It was my car after all! Fuming to myself, I reluctantly got into the back of the car. To add insult to injury, I had to sit in the middle, because as Kenichi pointed out, I was the ‘smallest’. I was not impressed. When exactly was I going to get credit for figuring this all out?

Gibson really put his foot down as we raced to Shou Tanaka’s house. If it had been anyone else driving my car, I would have been having a heart attack. But seeing as it was a cop and someone who I knew to be a good driver, I wasn’t quite as worried.

He pulled up directly in front of Shou’s house and went straight into business mode as we all piled out of the car.

“Kenichi, I want you to go round and watch the back door. Chad, you cover the downstairs windows,” he ordered. “Me and Gee will go through the front door. Ryuzaki, stay close to Gee and do exactly as she tells you.”

Yippee, I got to be in charge. I was glad that Gibson was making use of the fact that I was armed and had been trained for situations like this, rather than making me sit out since I was technically a civilian. He was even letting L take part! The time for arguing really must have been out.

Kenichi and Chad nodded at Gibson’s orders and headed for their respective assignments. I drew my gun and took up my position besides Gibson with L right behind us. Gibson rammed the front door with his shoulder several times and it banged open. It wasn’t latched or even locked.

Gibson silently motioned for me to follow him and I gave him a quick nod. We moved out into the living room. Everything was still and quiet, so we carried on through to the kitchen. Chad jumped slightly when he saw us through the window, but it was the same story in there too.

Gibson pointed to the ceiling. I gave him another brief nod and followed him towards the stairs, gun at the ready. I could feel sweat forming on my brow and my hands were growing clammy. It had been a while since I’d been part of a dangerous situation like this.

When we’d reached the top of the stairs something brushed my arm and I yelped. I turned to see that it was only L, who had stopped a little too close to me.

“Don’t do that,” I whispered weakly, steadying my hold on my gun.

“Sorry,” he whispered back.

For once, he actually seemed to mean it too. He obviously understood how serious the situation was. We were in a serial murderer’s house after all. You didn’t get much more serious than that. L wasn’t even armed. I was beginning to wish that Gibson had made him stay in the car. Maybe even with the child locks on.

Gibson turned so that I could see his face and mouthed, “Bedroom,” jerking his thumb in the direction of one of the doors across the landing.

I nodded again and raised the Browning a little with both hands, making sure to keep my aim steady. The three of us made our way down the hallway like some kind of perversely silent conga line.

We stopped outside the doorway. Gibson raised his gun and mouthed, “One... Two... Three!” He kicked the door open and charged in, gun first.

I hurtled in after him, L at my heels, and then stopped dead in my tracks so that he crashed straight into the back of me. Though to be honest, I barely even noticed.

Shou Tanaka was lying face down in the middle of the room in a pool of dark blood. I lowered my gun a little, staring in disbelief.

“Cover me,” said Gibson briskly, holding his gun in one hand and moving towards the body.

He managed to flip Shou over onto his side using his free hand. His shirt was soaked through with blood and his face was also masked with it. Gibson felt his neck for a pulse. After what seemed like ages, he turned back to look towards me and L. 

“He’s dead,” he said heavily.

I stared at the body in front of us. “Well, shit...”

“My thoughts exactly,” L agreed darkly.


	9. Fighting Fear With Fire

You’d have thought that finding our prime suspect dead would have put us at another dead end. Slowed us down. Totally de-motivated us. But in fact, it was the exact opposite. I couldn’t remember us ever being so active.

L’s paranoia had obviously gotten the best of him and our new headquarters was now at the hotel he’d been staying at while he was in Kyoto. Since he’d now been present at two crime scenes, he’d begun to worry about the possibility of people recognising him in public. Apparently, my office was now in a ‘too urban’ area and he couldn’t risk raising any suspicions. Of course, I’d just rolled my eyes at every word. My office hadn’t moved anywhere. It wasn’t my fault he’d suddenly become so uptight.

So our meetings now took place at this high-class hotel that was right on the other side of town. It was a pain in the ass. Since it was so far to keep trekking back and forth, Gibson, Kenichi and Chad all took up rooms there at the hotel. Apparently L was funding it all. Not too shabby.

I was offered a room too, but I maybe-not-so-politely declined. I don’t like sleeping in strange places – the only beds I’ve ever felt comfortable in have been my own, my old bed at my mom’s house and the guest bed at Johnny’s place. Plus I knew that Kyo would have a total strop if I didn’t come back for any longer than three days.

So I got to do the trekking back and forth part. Yay. I was gonna have to convert to the _really_ cheap energy drinks now that I was spending so much on petrol. That thought made me grumpy. And who do you think I generally took that out on? Take a wild guess.

The more time I spent around L, the more he both fascinated and irritated me. I seemed to be discovering more and more of his unusual habits. One of them being that – since he’d been in his own environment more – he ate a ridiculous amount of sweets. Watari seemed to provide him with an endless supply of cakes, ice creams and enough varieties of candy to make Honeydukes proud. Yeah, yeah, geek moment over and done with. Johnny always told me that I had a sweet tooth, but that was nothing... _nothing_ compared to L. If I ate as much cake as he did, I’d be the size of a house.

The way he sat now seemed to aggravate me a lot more than it normally did too. I was frequently struck by the urge to push him over. I could only imagine how brilliant it would be if one time he just lost his balance...

But, pushing my childishness aside, I was working really hard to keep up with him. Now that we had a new victim, it meant we had plenty more people to interview in order to find out more about Shou’s situation. I'd been starting to get fed up of just interviewing people... Until we found out something interesting.

Shou had an older brother named Jin, who had ‘mysteriously disappeared’ in the last month. His apartment and his office had both been abandoned and nobody had seen or heard from him since. Apparently, he’d told his colleagues that he would be working from home for a while. If that didn’t scream guilty, then I didn’t know what did. Not to mention the fact that his office was in Kasagi – the very area where this whole case had started.

But we couldn’t just start plotting against him like I wanted to. We’d searched his empty apartment and found absolutely nothing of use. I’d wanted to do the same with his office but, seeing as there were still other people working there, Gibson insisted we had to follow protocol on this one and wait to get a search warrant.

Unfortunately, search warrants tended to take time to get hold of. I didn’t want to wait. For one thing, I didn’t like waiting around. For another, I was worried that we could end up with another murder in between now and then. Gibson shared my thoughts, but as a man of the law, he didn’t have the same disregard for the rules that I had.

Which was why I’d decided to take matters into my own hands. I’d managed to get hold of some old building plans for Jin’s office building from the library downtown. It was amazing that they still did these – anyone could get their hands on them. The blueprints I’d printed a copy of were quite old, though I was guessing the building wasn’t likely to have changed too much in that time.

Since there were still people working in these offices, I couldn’t just break into whatever section I felt like. I needed to plan this one out a bit more so that I didn’t get caught. If I ended up say, climbing through a window into an office that somebody was already using, then I’d have a lot of explaining to do.

I kept my plan a secret from the others. Like Gibson, Kenichi and Chad generally followed rules to a tee and wouldn’t appreciate my little breaking-and-entering scheme. Thankfully, since none of them were detectives, they didn’t have the same eye for little things like I did, so none of them seemed to have realised that I was plotting anything. Of course, there was one person I couldn’t account for.

“You should realise that I know what you’re trying to do,” said L, as he climbed onto the chair next to mine the one afternoon. Gibson, Kenichi and Chad were all in the room next door.

I stiffened, but still asked theatrically, “What are you talking about?”

Of course, I wasn’t fooling him at all. “Your master break-in plan.”

Great. Busted. “How the hell did you find out about that?” I asked grumpily.

I swear L almost rolled his eyes at me. “I’m the world’s greatest detective. A small plot like yours is hardly going to escape me.” He didn’t say it like he was boasting – more like he was just stating a fact. That just irritated me even more.

“So am I in trouble now then?” I grumbled.

“No. I agree with you,” said L.

Okay... Hadn’t been expecting that one. I stared at him in surprise. “You don’t think I’m crazy for wanting to go off on my vigilante mission?”

“Actually, I do think you may be a little insane,” agreed L. “But you seem to be doing it with the best intentions.”

Ouch. Kind of a back-handed compliment there. “Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “So why are you interrupting me if you’re happy to let me get on with it?”

“Because I’m going to go with you,” said L simply.

_Definitely_ wasn’t expecting that one. “Fat chance!” I protested.

“If you don’t agree, then I can always tell Mr. Gibson what you’re planning,” L warned.

I gaped at him. Now he was blackmailing me? What the hell was going on? “Hang on, why do you even _want_ to go? You haven’t done much of the investigating yourself so far.”

“If you remember correctly, I’ve been present at the last two crime scenes,” L pointed out.

“Yeah, only because I convinced you to pull your weight so you wouldn’t get kicked off the team,” I reminded him. Great. Did that mean this was _my_ fault? I should have left him to Gibson after all.

“Either way, I would like to remain an integral part of this investigation,” continued L.

“But this isn’t officially part of the case – this is just me going off and doing my own thing,” I said irritably. My own thing meaning _on my own_. No tagalongs allowed.

“Which is exactly why I feel I should come with you,” explained L. “With your... rebellious attitude, you’ll most likely land yourself in trouble.”

Oh and now he was insulting me. I was fuming. I didn’t want him to go with me. Even if he _didn’t_ annoy the living crap out of me... This plan was undoubtedly going to require stealth, climbing and possibly some running. I couldn’t imagine this skinny detective being any good at either of those things.

But if I told him no, then he’d rat me out to Gibson and the whole thing wouldn’t ever happen. We’d have to wait for an official search warrant instead. Dammit, dammit, dammit!

“You’re a real piece of work, do you know that?” I told him venomously.

L took my cutting comment to be a yes. “So when do you plan on staging this break-in?”

“The day after tomorrow,” I told him reluctantly. “Hopefully, there won’t be so many people working on a Sunday.”

“A fair assumption,” L agreed lightly.

He was starting to get on my last nerve. Even the way he spoke irritated me. “Get to my office for nine in the morning, sharp. I’m not driving all the way up here just to pick you up. Oh and _you_ have to give the others something to do elsewhere on Sunday, so they don’t wonder where we are.”

Amazingly, despite my kinda bitchy attitude, L followed all of my orders without argument. So on Sunday morning, we were walking down towards the building where Jin’s office was. I’d driven us up to Kasagi and then parked a few blocks away. I definitely didn’t want anybody seeing my car – if we had to make a quick escape, then we’d have to risk it on foot.

We walked in silence from my car to the office building. None of the Sunday morning shoppers gave us a second glance. I really didn’t get why L was so paranoid about being seen – he may as well have been invisible for all the notice people took of him. Maybe he would be good at the stealth part after all.

We eventually reached our destination. It was a strange little building, consisting of only two low-ceilinged storeys. Each one wasn’t much taller than the average-sized man. From the building plans I’d studied, I knew that the offices were all on the second storey. The bottom floor was for the reception, canteen and storage rooms.

I led L round to one side of the building and started counting windows. I knew that the first one was the stairwell, the fourth one across was part of the corridor and the last was a small room that was unlabelled on the building plans – maybe a toilet or some kind of storage cupboard.

Damn. None of them were open. The building may have been quite low, but it would still require some climbing to get into the second floor. That wasn’t going to work if I had to stop on the way up to open the window. Plus there was a chance that they could be locked anyway.

“Let’s try round the other side,” I decided, fervently hoping we’d strike lucky this time.

We did. Well, sort of... The window to the stairwell on the other side of the building was slightly ajar. We’d still need to open it properly first to get inside. I studied the wall, but couldn’t see any kind of ledge I could use to steady myself whilst I wrestled with the window.

I could only think of one option and I had a feeling that my new partner in crime wasn’t going to like it.

“You’re gonna have to let me climb on your shoulders,” I told him. “That should be enough for me to reach the window.”

As I’d suspected, L did not look impressed. Amazingly though, he still didn’t argue. “Fine,” he said, sounding just a little bit irate. I felt impressed that I’d managed to stir some kind of emotion in him, rather than him just being his usual robotic self. 

I took in our surroundings, trying to figure out how best to work this new strategy. L was quite a bit taller than me and, short of physically jumping on him, I couldn’t see an easy way to get up onto his shoulders. Annoyingly, this seemed to fell me more than the idea of getting through the window did.

L noticed me hesitating and sighed. “Stand there,” he directed.

I moved to the spot by the wall that he’d pointed to. “What are you...”

I didn’t get any further. The next thing I knew, he’d suddenly come up underneath me and hoisted me up into the air, taking the brunt on his shoulders. I let out an embarrassing squeak and nearly lost my balance, clutching at the wall to steady myself. Damn... He was a lot stronger than he looked.

“You could have warned me!” I protested, spluttering. I could feel my face turning red. I was so glad that none of the others were here. Chad in particular would have been having a field day right now. And I was even more grateful that I’d thought to wear jeans rather than a skirt today.

“Just hurry up and open the window,” L ordered.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he wasn’t big on physical contact. Kinda like my very own Sheldon Cooper, I mused to myself. The more I thought about it, the more it gave me the bizarre urge to laugh. I didn’t though. L would probably drop me if I did.

I walked my hands further up the wall, still afraid of overbalancing. I could just about grasp the edge of the window. I gave it a tug, but it was quite stiff. I sure hoped there wasn’t anyone else on the other side of it. After another sharp pull, it finally gave. I made sure I opened it wide enough for a person to fit through.

“Okay, it’s open,” I said. I didn’t feel I needed to add for him to put me down.

Sure enough, L was only too happy to get me off of him. He crouched down, setting me back on my feet. I was grateful to be on the ground again. I was pretty sure my face was still pink. How embarrassing.

L straightened up and gestured towards the window. “After you.”

I nodded and backed up a few steps to give myself a run-up. I certainly wasn’t going to ask L for another boost. Once I’d judged the height of the window, I dashed forwards and launched myself at the wall. I managed to scramble up high enough to grab the window ledge. I was glad I’d had plenty of practice at this kind of thing.

I pulled myself half through the window so that I could rest on the ledge with one leg on either side and have a look around. There was nobody in the stairwell, thankfully. It was a bigger drop than I’d expected, but nothing drastic. Getting back out this way was going to be difficult, however. Ah well, we’d worry about that when we got to it.

I turned back to L outside, wondering if he’d have any difficulties getting in himself. He hadn’t asked for any assistance, so I was assuming he knew what he was doing. “You going to be okay getting up here?”

“I can assure you I’ll be fine,” replied L.

“Okay. It’s a bit of a drop, but not too much,” I told him. “See you on the other side.”

I manoeuvred the rest of my body in through the window and dropped down onto the steps below. I tottered a little in my boots, but regained my balance quickly. I turned to see L already pulling himself through the window. Wow, he made it look even easier than I had.

“I never expected you to be so limber,” I said in surprise, as he joined me on the steps. He gave me a wary look in response. “What? That was a compliment.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” said L.

I resisted the urge to hit him over the head. “Whatever. Come on, we’ve got an office to find.”

We continued up the remaining steps and found ourselves on what seemed to be the main corridor. There were plenty of doors, but no signs to say who any of the offices belonged to. Another complication.

L noticed the same thing. “They may have a floor plan pinned up somewhere,” he suggested.

“Good thinking,” I agreed. “Let’s carry on.”

I started to lead the way down the corridor, but we’d barely gotten anywhere when one of the doors opened on our right. There was nowhere to hide, so all we could do was attempt to blend in and look natural.

It didn’t work. Go figure.

“Can I help you?” A woman had appeared through the doorway and looked surprised to see us. She had immaculate dark hair and very pretty features.

“We’re just here to collect something from Jin Tanaka’s office,” I invented quickly; glad that we had a name to go on.

Surprise flitted across the woman’s face once more, replaced almost immediately by suspicion. “I was told that Jin Tanaka is on temporary leave. His office will be locked.”

Uh oh. I’d been afraid of something like this. “He gave us a key,” I improvised.

“Oh!” The suspicion instantly vanished from her face. “Sorry, I didn’t realise. His office is the one right at the end with the blue door,” she added helpfully. “This place can be a little confusing.”

“Thank you,” I replied graciously.

She gave us a smile and, thankfully, turned to head towards the stairs. It would have been awkward if she’d followed us and realised we actually didn’t have a key. At least we’d hit a stroke of luck this time. And now we knew which was the right office. We carried on straight down the corridor and stopped at the door she’d indicated. I glanced round to check that nobody else was in sight. Lucky strike number two.

“Have you got an ID card or anything like that?” I asked L, searching my pockets. I wished I’d brought my bag with me – I had plenty of cards in my purse.

“No,” replied L bluntly. Of course. Why would a man who always kept his real identity a secret keep identification cards on his person? How stupid of me to ask.

Fortunately, I hit a third lucky strike as my hand closed around hard plastic in the back pocket of my jeans. I still had my library card on me from when I’d collected the building plans the other day. I pulled it out and waved it in front of L’s face. “Watch and learn.”

I fed it into the gap between the door and the frame, chipping at the lock mechanism. I know, I know, this is something you’d think would only work in the movies... But it’s actually a legit technique. It works on most old locks, which I was hoping this one was.

I was right. As the door clicked open, I tried not to think about when our luck was going to run out. Instead, I gave L a smug look, which of course he ignored, and pushed through into the room. L followed me inside and shut the door behind us.

I laid my card down on a pile of cardboard boxes next to the door and headed straight for the desk, immediately beginning to search through the drawers. “I’ll take the desk. You start on the filing cabinet.”

Thankfully, L jumped straight to it and didn’t comment on my bossing him around. I left him alone then and concentrated on what I was doing. Whereas I preferred to take my time and do a long thorough search, I also had experience at speed searching, which was going to be the better option in this situation.

It didn’t take me long to become suspicious. There was hardly anything in the desk, but it seemed like it had been empty for a long time, rather than just having been cleared out recently. The top of the desk was covered in a layer of dust, which I was loathed to touch without plastic gloves.

L seemed to echo my suspicions. “I don’t think we’re in the right office.”

He’d pulled the filing cabinet drawers open – all of which were empty – and was holding a name placard in his hand. I moved closer to see what it said.

“Jou Tounaki,” I read aloud. “So this office belongs to this Jou guy then?”

“Belonged,” corrected L. “It doesn’t look like it’s been used in a long time.”

I sighed. “That girl must have sent us to the wrong office. I guess the names are pretty similar... We’d better go and find the right one.”

L replaced the name placard and closed all of the drawers, whilst I started to put back everything I’d moved. In between our rearrangements, we heard a very audible click from the door. We both froze. Somebody was trying to get in.

I was ready to jump under the desk – who knew what L was going to do; maybe he could fit in the filing cabinet – but the door didn’t open. We remained still, in pained silence, for what must have been a good several minutes before I felt safe to make any movement.

I eventually gave L a confused look. Surely there still couldn’t be anybody out there? “I think we should go,” I said quietly.

L nodded. “I’ll check and see if it’s clear.”

I hurriedly re-checked the drawers one last time to make sure everything was where it should be. The door rattled loudly and I shot L an accusatory glare. “What are you playing at? We’re supposed to be quiet!”

“It’s locked,” said L slowly.

“What?” Abandoning my attempts to tidy, I strode over to try the door myself, as if there was the possibility that L could be lying to me. He wasn’t. The door was well and truly locked. “Shit...”

“Somebody knows we’re not meant to be in here,” said L.

“Maybe... but you don’t know that for sure. That girl we spoke to didn’t seem to have a clue, but I guess she could have told someone else,” I agreed, running a hand through my hair. “It’s no problem. I’ll get us back out.”

I felt unnerved by the thought that somebody may have known what we were up to. Though it could have just been a coincidence. There could be routine checks to keep the unused offices locked, for all we knew. I turned to get my card and, in my haste, I knocked the whole pile of boxes over. Papers and stationary tipped out onto the floor and my card disappeared amongst them.

“Shoot,” I muttered. 

I was about to bend down to start sifting through it when something pricked at my nostrils. A smell that instantly sent fear shooting through me. Surely I was imagining it... But then I felt my heart stop. I could see smoke starting to seep under the door. 

It couldn’t be true... I blinked hard, then stared – my eyes painfully wide – hoping that it would disappear and it’d turn out that I really was just imagining it. I grabbed L’s arm without even realising what I was doing. 

“What is it?” he asked, obviously seeing the fear on my face.

I couldn’t speak. All I could do was stare at the door. Please don’t be real, please don’t be real, I found myself begging in my head. But all of a sudden, it was like somebody had flicked a switch. The smoke started to billow through the gaps faster and thicker. I felt the panic leap into my chest, constricting my throat and shutting down my brain. No, no, no... Not again...

I could distantly hear myself repeating, “No, no, no...” before it was taken over by the ringing in my ears.

Everything went hazy. I felt myself fall, but I didn’t seem to come to any kind of painful landing. I was past feeling by this point. All I could do was hyperventilate more and more until I crossed over into a panic attack.

I couldn’t see anything but red. People distinguish red as the colour for either love or anger. Completely opposing emotions. But it isn’t either of those – it’s the colour of pure fear. I shut my eyes tight, not wanting to see the red fog that was clouding them.

I think I may have blacked out. Or shut down or something... Because all of a sudden, I was aware that I was rocking. It was cold and wet – I could feel spray on my face. I felt seasick. How had I ended up in the sea? I was clinging to something cool, damp and solid that didn’t feel like the floor anymore. A rock?

I opened my eyes, but now all I could see was white. The red was gone, but the white hurt my head so I quickly closed my eyes again. The constant swaying wasn’t helping either. I concentrated on clinging to my rock, digging my fingers in until it hurt. The pain helped a little. It helped me to ignore the seasickness.

I must have lost consciousness again because when I woke up a second time, I was finally still. My head still hurt, but the seasickness had gone. I could deal with that. I opened my eyes cautiously this time. I remembered the painfully blinding whiteness that I’d seen before.

It took me several long moments to realise that I was in my lounge. How had I ended up here? What had even happened? Everything seemed hazy – my mind was swimming with confusion.

Feeling suddenly agitated, I sat up abruptly, only to have a pair of hands push me firmly back down onto the couch. My stomach leapt and I felt my breath catch in my throat. I hadn’t realised there was anybody here with me.

I saw with surprise that it was actually L and only then did I remember what had happened. Jin’s office... Being locked inside... The fire... I felt the panic burn in my chest again, even though the danger had obviously passed. That kind of fear still hits hard even from the aftermath.

But the thing that was possibly scaring me even more was the look on L’s face. He looked almost... concerned.

“Did I die?” I asked stupidly. It was the only plausible reason I could think of. The words made my throat sting and they didn’t come out as loud as I’d intended. I’d obviously swallowed too much smoke.

I swear I saw a ghost of a smile pass over L’s face. Though that only made me believe my dying story even more. “No, you did not die.”

“Oh. That’s good,” I said absent-mindedly, still trying to piece together what had happened. All I could remember was being overwhelmed by fear from seeing the smoke and then blacking out. “How the hell did we get out of there?”

“Through the window,” said L simply, as if that explained everything.

“But what about me? I hardly sprouted wings and flew outside,” I said. Oh, good, I still had my sarcasm. I hadn’t been broken too much by the ordeal then.

“I carried you.”

Oh, hell. How embarrassing. “You carried me?” I repeated slowly, feeling horrified.

“And then hailed a cab. Your apartment was the closest place,” L explained.

I barely even registered what he’d said. I was still too mortified by the idea of being carried. I remembered the sensation of rocking and briefly wondering if I’d been at sea. I realised then that my clothes were still quite damp.

“Why am I wet?” I questioned, plucking at my top.

“The fire set the sprinklers off,” replied L.

That made sense. Obviously my freaked-out state had just sent my mind a bit loopy. I pulled myself up into a sitting position. L didn’t try to stop me this time. “You can sit down, y’know. You don’t just have to loom over me.”

For a second, I thought he was going to decline, but he obligingly climbed onto the couch beside me and settled into his usual crouching position. I could hardly get annoyed over it this time, seeing as he’d just saved my life.

And, strangely enough, I didn’t actually find it annoying right now. Instead, I felt curious. “Why do you always sit that way?”

“It helps me to think,” said L. “When I sit this way, I find my powers of deduction to be improved by at least forty percent.”

Right... Annoying or not, he was definitely still batshit crazy. “Well, you’re only talking to me,” I pointed out. “You don’t really need to deduce anything right now.”

L looked thoughtful. “Maybe I don’t.”

Either way, he didn’t change his position and he didn’t attempt to continue the conversation either. Of course, being me, I found the silence to be extremely uncomfortable and I wasn’t going to allow it. Even if it did mean saying something that I always struggled with.

“Thank you,” I blurted out quickly before I changed my mind. “For saving me.”

“That’s quite alright,” said L, monotonous as ever. But then his expression turned hesitant. “I actually thought you’d gone into shock.”

“To be honest, I have no idea what I did,” I confessed. “Maybe I did. Maybe I just passed out. I’m not really sure.”

Thankfully, I didn’t feel particularly ill now. My throat still hurt and it was making my voice kind of raspy, but otherwise I actually felt fine. A couple of energy drinks down the hatch and I’d be as right as rain.

“You don’t like fire,” said L. He said it as a statement – which it was, seeing as Kenichi had already told him so – but I could sense the question behind it.

“No. I’m terrified of it actually,” I admitted. I then forced a laugh. “But I’m pretty sure you already figured that out.”

Of course, L didn’t laugh. He just fixed his unblinking gaze on me. Repressing a sigh, I decided to bite the bullet and tell him my story.

“When I was nineteen, I got caught in an arsonist attack. It was at the library that used to be in Wazuka. They never found out who was behind it.” I hesitated. I never liked talking about this, but I felt I owed L an explanation for freaking out like I had. “It was the most terrifying thing I’d ever experienced. The place went up in a flash – obviously it was so full of flammable material... I don’t suppose you know anything about Teddy Harper? He was Gibson’s old partner.”

L nodded. “I remember reading about him. He died at gun point three years ago.” To my surprise, he actually seemed to show a little remorse, despite not having known him. It was always a tragedy when the good guys got killed. I appreciated that and gave L a small smile.

“Well, he was the one who saved me. He’d been in that area during the time of the arsonist attack. I was told he called the fire service as soon as he noticed the smoke and then came barrelling straight into the building himself.”

“Were there many other people in the building at the time?” L asked.

I shook my head. “It was in the middle of the week and most people would have been at work or school at that time. I was working at a Starbucks back then and my shifts were kind of everywhere, so I had some afternoons to myself. I found out afterwards that there’d been two members of staff and one other customer there, but they’d been in the lobby and had been able to escape straightaway.”

“So you obviously had a lot of respect for Mr. Harper,” said L. Again, it was more of a statement than a question.

“I pretty much idolised him,” I agreed. “I still do. It was because of him that I decided to become a police officer myself.” I hid a smile. Officer me wouldn’t have been very impressed with the way rebel detective me had been acting lately. “But I always wanted to become freelance, so I’m happy now that I have.”

“And you enjoy it?” asked L.

“Of course,” I replied without having to think about it. “Do you?”

“Yes,” said L. At first, I thought that was all he was going to say, but then he added, “I like to think I can help make the world a better place.”

I smiled. Somehow he didn’t make it sound cheesy. “That’s a good way to look at it.”

L didn’t say any more and looked away. If I hadn’t known better, I would have said he was being modest. As it was, he was probably feeling uncomfortable since he’d given me a straight answer for once. As I watched him turn away, I noticed small red marks on his neck, not quite obscured by his untidy hair. 

I frowned. “What’s that on your neck?” Without waiting for a reply, I leant over and pulled slightly at the neckline of his shirt, revealing that the same marks littered the top of his back. My frown deepened. “What are these marks? Did you get burnt or something?”

They didn’t look like burns though. I wanted to touch his skin, but I didn’t think he’d appreciate it somehow. I left my fingers hovering uselessly inches away from his shoulder. Only then did I notice that my fingertips were slightly red too – the underneath of my nails crusted in blood.

“Oh god...” The so-called rock I’d imagined myself clinging to most definitely _hadn’t_ been a rock. “L, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s nothing,” said L, unconcerned.

It wasn’t nothing to me though. I pulled a face as I stared at my bloody nails. Everything was starting to make sense now. The rock I’d been clutching for dear life had been L. The sea spray had been the water from the sprinklers. And the blinding whiteness I’d seen must have been L’s shirt.

It wasn’t quite so white now, however. It was smudged with grey from all the smoke. My clothes surely weren’t much better... And then it seemed to hit me all at once. Suddenly, all I could smell was smoke. It was in my clothes, my hair, every inch of my skin...

My stomach roiled and I now feared throwing up. I leapt to my feet in one awkward movement, causing L to stare at me in surprise. “Sorry,” I said quickly, still trying to assess whether I was going to be sick or not. “It’s just the smoke... Do you mind if I quickly have a shower? Otherwise I think I may puke.”

He probably didn’t need to know that last part, but I threw it in for good measure. Sure enough, he nodded without hesitation. “Please feel free.”

I didn’t waste any time. I dashed straight through to the bathroom, stopping only to grab a towel from the radiator and some clean-ish clothes that I’d left on my desk chair. L was going to have to entertain himself for a bit. Normally, I would have had an issue with leaving a guy – especially one as unusual as L – alone in my apartment. But this was a bit of a dire situation. Nevertheless, I dove into the shower and washed as quickly as I could, scrubbing myself thoroughly from head to toe.

I dried myself just as briskly, leaving my hair half damp as usual, before throwing on the clothes that I’d grabbed beforehand. There was no way I could have smoke on me now, but I could still smell it. I knew it was psychological, but that knowledge didn’t make the smell go away.

I padded through into my bedroom, tossing the wet towel back onto the radiator as I headed for my dressing table. I grabbed my bottle of NYC by Sarah Jessica Parker – the sweetest perfume I owned – and literally doused myself with it, only stopping when I was satisfied that I could no longer smell smoke. Psychological or not.

Feeling a lot better, I went back through to the lounge to find L inspecting the models I had in my toy corner. It looked so odd that I had to bite back a laugh, half wanting to tell him that he kind of looked like the Edward Scissorhands model... I didn’t. Though I doubted he would have cared much.

“Do you want a drink or anything?” I offered. I knew that I was personally desperate to get some sugar in me.

“No. Thank you,” L declined. “I’ve contacted Watari. He should be here shortly to collect me.”

“Oh... Okay.”

Why did I feel disappointed by that? Did I not want him to leave? If he’d have asked me, I could have dropped him back to the hotel myself... Feeling muddled, I went through to the kitchen area and found myself a very large energy drink – the super sweet kind that you get in those pint-sized cans.

I guessed that today was the longest personal conversation I’d actually had with L, even if it had mostly been centred around me. And it was also the first time I’d felt like I was talking to a real person, rather than just robot boy.

I contemplated this as I sipped at my energy drink. I then turned back to find L standing directly behind me. I jumped violently and damn near threw my drink at him.

“Dammit, don’t do that!” I protested. He really was like a vampire – he’d made no noise at all.

As he so often did, he ignored my comment and fielded it with his own. “You smell like sweets.”

Was that supposed to be a compliment or just another one of his strange side comments? I stared at him. I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that...

You know how some people have eyes that you can just get lost in? Well, his weren’t like that at all. Instead, it was more like they just bounced you right back. I’d never met anyone else before whose eyes literally gave _nothing_ away. As I looked into them, all I could see was black. It was almost as if he was hiding behind tinted lenses – he could see out, but nobody could see in.

A sudden ringing made me nearly jump out of my skin. It was only L’s cell phone, but the interruption made me realise that I’d been subconsciously leaning in towards him. What the hell? I leapt back and bumped into the kitchen counter, feeling my face turn pink again. Dammit, I’d never blushed quite as often as I had lately. What was going on?

Thankfully, L didn’t seem to have noticed anything and he definitely didn’t seem concerned by my very unsubtle attempt to back away from him. He merely pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and clicked the off button. “That’ll mean that Watari’s outside. I’ll let myself out.”

“Okay. See you,” I mumbled as he headed towards the door that led downstairs. I felt grateful that I didn’t have to follow him.

Once the door closed behind him I traipsed over to the couch and flopped down onto it, my energy drink sloshing dangerously in its can. What the hell was wrong with me? It was just L – the same annoying detective I’d been working with for the past month or so.

I really needed to get a grip. And I needed to do it soon, because I’d be working with him again tomorrow, followed by every day after that until the case was solved. I sighed. It had been a long day. Whatever happened to Sunday being a day of rest?


	10. In The Doghouse

I sincerely hoped that L wouldn’t mention our little break-in stint to Gibson or the others. Seeing as it hadn’t benefitted us in any way – not to mention caused a fair bit of trouble – I didn’t see a reason for any of them to know about it. Telling L ‘not to tattle’ seemed a little juvenile though, so I didn’t. Who knew if he’d even do as I asked anyway? I just had to hope that he had the sense to keep his mouth shut.

Unfortunately, that didn’t seem the case, because as soon as I got to the hotel the following day, I found Gibson in a particularly tetchy mood. And something told me it was most likely my fault.

Sure enough, as soon as he spotted me, he got to his feet and beckoned towards one of the doors. “Gee. A word?”

Uh oh. I gazed imploringly in Kenichi and Chad’s direction, but they both pointedly turned away. Cowards. They knew I was in trouble and they weren’t going to get involved. L, on the other hand, continued to type away at his laptop with his weird habit of only using his index fingers. Why wasn’t he in trouble too? Had he ratted me out and somehow managed to get himself off the hook?

I didn’t have chance to feel annoyed about that possibility. I was more concerned about Gibson’s wrath right now. I meekly followed him through the door, which he promptly closed behind me. I would have preferred to have stayed where there were witnesses, but I guess it wasn’t really my choice.

He turned to face me, arms folded across his chest. “You have some explaining to do.”

I knew it wouldn’t work, but I figured I’d still give my innocent approach a shot first. “Explaining about what? I don’t know what you...”

“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid!” Gibson cut me off angrily. “I know you tried to get into Jin Tanaka’s office yesterday.”

Damn, he was really was in a bad mood. I muttered something about a tattle tale, which Gibson seized immediately.

“You think someone _told_ on you? Gee, we’ve been keeping tabs on that building ourselves. What do you think we thought when we heard that the fire services were called out yesterday?”

I stared at him in surprise. “You were monitoring the building? But you said you had to follow protocol and wait for a search warrant.”

“That’s what we _were_ doing! But it’s not against protocol to keep surveillance on the building from outside as well,” Gibson pointed out.

I gaped. “Why didn’t you tell me? If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have felt the need to rush in myself!”

“Did you really think I’d be happy to just wait for a search warrant without doing anything else? I thought you’d trust me to know what I was doing,” said Gibson in an uncharacteristically cool voice.

“Well, you should have trusted me and told me what you were doing!” I protested.

“How can I when you go behind my back and ruin our operation by getting the building caught on fire?” Gibson shouted.

I was flabbergasted. “You think that was _my_ fault? You think I intended that to happen? You of all people should know I avoid fire like the plague! They locked us in and tried to burn us alive!”

Surprise flitted across Gibson’s face, though it was quickly replaced by suspicion as he registered my slip-up before I did. “Who do you mean by ‘us’?”

Crap. Now I’d accidentally gotten L into trouble too. “I meant me,” I said unconvincingly, trying to cover up my mistake. “Just me, myself and Gee.”

“Gee...” said Gibson warningly. “Who else was with you?”

I sighed. I couldn’t think of any possible lie to give him. “L.”

Surprise washed over Gibson’s face again. “Ryuzaki?” I forgot that I was the only one who kept calling him L. Gibson suddenly looked thunderous. “I’d have thought _he’d_ have more sense! I’m beginning to think we’d be better off without any detectives on this case!”

I’d begun to protest at the dig against my sense, but the last part made the words die in my mouth. What was he saying? Had I just gotten both L and myself kicked off the case? “You can’t be serious...”

“I’m sorry, Gee, but you have to see where I’m coming from. And it’s starting to come across that neither of you realise how dangerous this case is,” said Gibson in what sounded like a final tone.

No... He couldn’t do this. I hadn’t had any other clients visit my office during the whole time I’d been working this case. I was still in the middle of a dry spell. If I got kicked off this now, then I’d still be left without work. Without anything to occupy my time.

And how could I possibly tell people that I’d had the opportunity to work alongside the famous L and had then blown it by getting sacked? And that I’d then gotten him kicked out along with me? No. That wasn’t fair.

“I made L go with me,” I lied, making a quick decision. I didn’t have any chance of saving myself here, but I could at least try and help get L out of this. Dammit, why did I always end up sticking up for him?

“You... what?” Gibson stared at me in disbelief. I couldn’t blame him – it didn’t exactly sound like something I’d do. I’d never intentionally put a civilian at risk without good reason. I may have not been a cop anymore, but I still had that sense drilled into me.

“I knew it would be dangerous alone and I could hardly ask any of you guys to go with me. I asked L because he’s not a cop,” I rambled. “He didn’t want to go, but he agreed that it was too dangerous for me to go on my own. I... threatened him and made him promise not to tell you.”

I could see straightaway that Gibson wasn’t buying it. My poor explanation was sounding less and less like me as I went along with it. “And that’s the truth, is it?” questioned Gibson suspiciously.

Of course, he didn’t believe me. But I was determined to at least get L out of trouble – the break-in had still been my idea after all. And I had no doubt that I wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for him.

“He saved my life,” I blurted out. Of all people, cops understood the meaning of being indebted to somebody.

That took Gibson aback. “Ryuzaki did?”

I nodded. “You know what I’m like with fire. I had a total panic attack, but L got me out and took me back to my place. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.” I hesitated, hating what I was about to say. “I’ll understand if you wanna drop me from the case after what I did. I mean, I’ll be upset, but I’ll still get it. Just... Don’t get rid of L. None of this was his fault. And he’s the best chance you have of solving this thing.”

I realised I was starting to ramble again, so I shut up quickly, feeling awkward. Gibson was staring at me with an unreadable expression on his face. I honestly couldn’t tell if I’d just made things better or worse.

After what felt like the longest silence of my life, he finally sighed. “You women really know how to guilt trip, don’t you?”

“Huh? That’s not what I...”

“I know it’s not,” Gibson cut me off again, though not as harshly this time. “You’re just trying to work things out in your own weird little way. But right now, I think you should just go home.”

I blanched. This was it – I was off the case. So now I was likely to be out of work for a while. And I probably wouldn’t see L again. It took me a moment to realise that that thought actually hurt. Damn... When had I actually started caring?

I’m not sure what my expression looked like, but it was obviously showing some level of dismay because Gibson then added, “You’re not off the case. But I’m not saying you’re safe either. Christ, Gee, you nearly got yourself killed? I know you always mean well, but I have to think about what’s best for solving this case. And it’ll be hard to concentrate on that if you’re constantly putting yourself in danger.”

I nodded, feeling kind of mute. My future with this was still hanging by a thread. “What about L?” I mumbled.

“I’m going to be speaking to him too,” said Gibson. “But I know that you’re the one who’s the troublemaker here and he no doubt got caught up in your crazy plan somehow.”

I swear he almost smiled. Maybe there was still hope for me yet... And at least it sounded like L’s job was safe. I felt I’d done the best I could for now.

“So you want me to go home?” I repeated reluctantly.

“Just for today. Come back tomorrow as usual and we’ll have another chat,” said Gibson. I could see that he was struggling to be both fair and professional and even though it was me that it was going to affect, I still admired him for it. “I’m not in the best of moods today, so I need some time and space to think things over. Consider this an impromptu day off.”

I nodded, sensing that the conversation was over. Gibson knew that days off were generally a punishment of sorts for me anyway. “Thanks, Gibs. I’ll see you tomorrow then...”

I turned round and pushed back through the door into the main room that everyone had been working from. Chad had been eyeing the door, but he turned away quickly when he saw me. Kenichi was still pointedly not looking in my direction.

L watched uninterestedly as I passed and I felt the colour rise in my cheeks. I felt so on display right now. I headed straight through the room and left. Nobody tried to stop me, which I was grateful for. I didn’t really want to tell any of them that I’d been sent home like a disgraced child.

I drove straight home. At any other time, I probably would have been annoyed over the fact that I’d only just gotten to the hotel and was already driving back home. But right now, I was just worried. I’d really done it this time. If Gibson did decide to drop me from the case, then it would be entirely my fault. I’d have no one else to blame.

When I got back home, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wanted some company to keep me distracted, but it was Monday morning – all of my friends were at work right now. But luckily for me, animals tend to have a sixth sense for when people are upset and Kyo was in my office waiting for me. As soon as I sank into my desk chair, he leapt straight up onto my lap, purring like a helicopter.

I couldn’t help smiling. “Hey, little monster. Are you here to cheer me up?”

By way of response, he meowed and rubbed his face against my hand. Aww,,, He sure knew how to melt my heart at times. But I knew that I still needed something to keep my mind occupied, besides Kyo’s attention.

I picked him up and held him to my shoulder as I got back to my feet. “Right, cat... Just this once I’m going to let you come upstairs with me. And if you try and maim anymore of my wolves, then no kitty treats for a month,” I told him sternly.

He gave me a bored ‘oh please’ kind of look, which I took to be an understanding, so I carried him upstairs to my apartment. I didn’t really feel like watching anything so I decided to sit and read for a while. I hadn’t done much reading lately and the idea suddenly sounded appealing.

I set Kyo down on the couch whilst I grabbed an energy drink and then went to consult my bookcase. I wanted something unfamiliar to read, so I turned my attention to the stack of books on the bottom shelf – my rather untidy collection of new, unread books.

I went for one that Kay had bought me a while ago that I hadn’t gotten round to yet. The blurb told me it was about a sexy succubus called Georgina, which was obviously pretty damn close to my own name. I appreciated the sentiment. I settled down on the couch with the book in one hand and my energy drink in the other. Kyo crept back onto my lap and promptly fell asleep.

The book entertained me for a while. I liked Georgina – she liked books, she had a cat called Aubrey and she had a white chocolate mocha addiction, which made me think of my own addiction to energy drinks. But soon, the reading only succeeded in irritating me. The more I read, the more I decided that the primary love interest character reminded me too much of L... Just a little more human. I didn’t really want to think about L right now. He’d been confusing me too much since yesterday.

Sighing, I eventually ended up watching DVDs anyway. After watching several episodes of Psych, my mood had only improved slightly. Urgh. It was going to be a long day.

**XXX**

I woke up far too early the following morning, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I was far too nervous. After all, I was going to find out today whether I still had a job or not.

I was too keyed up to wait around, so I quickly showered, got ready and drove straight up to the hotel. It was too early for anyone to be up yet, but I knew I’d feel better just for being there, rather than hanging around at home. Maybe I could even coax my brain into getting some work done.

We’d each been given keys to the main room we’d been using for our meetings, so I was able to let myself in. Sure enough, the room was empty when I got there. Oh well. It was definitely a sign that I should try and do something productive. I switched on one of the laptops and loaded up a disc with some of the older interviews on it, including Shou Tanaka’s. It was a bit of a routine I’d fallen into – watching the videos again and again, hoping that I’d miraculously spot something new. A lot of detective work came down to constant repetition.

I connected my earphones from my iPhone. I didn’t know how well the sound would carry from here to the bedrooms, but I didn’t really want to risk waking anyone up. It was barely five o’clock yet.

Working eased my mind a little and I quickly fell back into my routine way of thinking. I wasn’t sure how long I was there for – time stopped seeming relevant – but after a while, I felt a light tap on the top of my head and almost jumped a mile in the air, nearly sending the laptop clattering to the floor.

I twisted round, jerking the earphones out of my ears, to find L standing directly beside me, wearing his trademark deadpan expression. “Don’t do that!” I protested.

Why did he feel the need to constantly creep up on me? He was so strange – he clearly didn’t like physical contact, but he didn’t seem to have a problem with getting all up in other people’s personal space. He was definitely standing far too close for comfort right now.

I frowned suddenly, realising what had actually made me jump. “Did you just pat me on the head?”

“I was trying not to startle you,” said L.

“Well, you’re not going the right way about it,” I grumbled, leaning away from him. I closed the laptop and set it down on the seat next to me. “What are you doing up so early anyway?”

“I don’t sleep much,” said L simply, climbing into the chair opposite – the proximity was still too close for my liking. I realised then that there were small sweets scattered across the coffee table next to him. No wonder that had been his seat of choice.

His comment about sleep didn’t really surprise me either. The dark shadows beneath his eyes confirmed it. “Guess it gives you more time to work on cases,” I said lightly. I wasn’t sure how to sympathise with an insomniac and I didn’t think he’d particularly want me to. He didn’t seem like the type who’d embrace sympathy.

“Yes, it does. And from the looks of it, the same goes for you too,” commented L.

“Trust me; it’s not from lack of trying,” I confessed. “I’m more worried about what Gibson’s going to say to me today. The work’s just to keep my mind busy for now.”

“You’re in the doghouse, aren’t you?” L observed.

“Oh, I think I’m way past the doghouse after our little breaking and entering scheme,” I said, still trying to keep my tone light. I didn’t want to let on exactly how worried I was.

“Worse than the doghouse?”

“Yup. I must be in the pound.”

L was the last person I’d have expected to be quoting Psych to, but like everyone else, he didn’t seem to get it either. He probably just thought I was being weird, as usual.

“I think Mr. Gibson’s just upset because he cares about you,” he pointed out.

Wow, so he could actually distinguish human emotions. “I guess,” I agreed. “He’s kinda making me feel like a child again though.”

“I should imagine you were an interesting child,” commented L, still completely straight-faced. I couldn’t tell if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult. I decided to casually disregard both ideas.

“No kidding,” I snorted. “I blame my family. I never bothered with dolls or girly things as a kid. Instead, I had crystal growing kits, boxes of magic tricks and an ant farm.”

“Magic tricks,” repeated L slowly. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought he was making fun of me.

“Hey, magic tricks are cool,” I protested. “Well... They would have been cooler if I could actually pull them off. I was never any good at them.”

“Hmm. Magic’s very simple really. It’s all just about illusions and slight of hand,” said L, picking up one of the sweets from the table. He spun it deftly between his fingers, then twisted his hand round theatrically and the sweet promptly vanished from sight.

“For you maybe,” I said sarcastically. I was pretty sure that _was_ an insult if he was telling me that I couldn’t do something which he found simple.

L ignored my sarcasm and leant towards me on his chair. I froze, unable to move away. When had he suddenly gotten so comfortable around me? He reached out and in one quick movement he’d pretended to pull the sweet out from behind my ear. I had to admit he was good at it – I hadn’t even heard the rustle from the wrapper.

I smiled. “Show-off.”

Unexpectedly, L actually smiled back. “I think you may be jealous.”

I stared at him in amazement. Was he _teasing_ me? I’d gotten so used to him being completely monotonous all the time that these ghosts of emotions I kept catching from him were throwing me completely off guard. Not to mention his smile was actually pretty damn cute. It was a shame I didn’t see it more often.

“You should smile more. It’s nice.” The words were out of my mouth before I’d even realised I was saying them aloud. I don’t know which of us was more surprised by it.

L hesitated before answering. “I smile when I have reason to.”

“Like when?” I asked curiously.

“Like when a case is going my way. Or when I hear of criminals being put to the justice they deserve...” L paused again, then a hint of amusement permeated his voice. “I have to admit, irritating you sometimes has its perks.”

“Oh, thanks,” I said, my tone laced with sarcasm again. I didn’t want to admit that I was actually a little pleased that I could bring out a good emotion in him – even if it was at my expense.

I don’t know if becoming aware of his confession made him uncomfortable, but either way, L suddenly backtracked the conversation. “Are you really in a lot of trouble with Mr. Gibson?”

I wasn’t sure whether to tell him or not, but I decided he’d probably find out anyway, especially if my next talk with Gibson didn’t work out in my favour. “I might be taken off the case.”

L’s face reverted back to his usual deadpan expression, but I saw a flicker of confusion in his eyes. “Mr. Gibson spoke to me also yesterday, but I didn’t get the impression that I was in much trouble.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have as many black marks on your record as I do,” I said, still trying to keep the mood light. I didn’t want it to be so obvious why I was in trouble and he wasn’t. “Gibs knows I’m probably likely to pull crap like this again.”

I don’t know if L believed my answer, but he fell silent again, thoughtfully turning the sweet over between his fingers. Then, without saying anything, he held it out to me.

“Err, thanks,” I said, hesitantly taking it. I wasn’t a big fan of hard boiled sweets, but I wasn’t going to knock the importance of sharing.

L didn’t say anything else and I started to fear another uncomfortable silence. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at the situation – I was saved by the appearance of Gibson in the doorway.

“Oh, hey,” I greeted, feeling my heart leap into my throat. He looked harried. This was it... I was going to get sacked.

“I’m sorry, Gee, I’m gonna have to postpone our talk,” Gibson replied quickly, grabbing his coat from the back of one of the chairs. “I just got a call from Shirley – I’ve gotta run back to the office for a bit.”

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, but the whole catalogue system’s gone down.” Gibson sighed. “It’s happened before. And if it’s anything like last time, I’ll be there all day trying to sort it.” He half pulled his coat on. “Call me if you need me or if you find anything new. We may have to have our talk tomorrow if I don’t finish early.”

“Sure thing,” I said, though I felt agonised. I didn’t think I could stand another day of not knowing which way my job was going to fall.

Gibson left straight away, leaving me with L, whose attention was now on the sweets again. Sighing, I pulled the laptop onto my lap and put my earphones back in. I needed work to keep my mind occupied for now, otherwise I’d go crazy. 

The day really dragged. L didn’t say much more to me and Kenichi and Chad weren’t very chatty either. I guessed they knew my situation was a little on the edge. I wanted some better company. Even Kyo would give me more comfort right now. Plus I was craving energy drinks. I was going to have to start bringing some with me.

It had barely gotten to two o’clock when I eventually got to my feet. My brain felt far too messed up. I needed a drink and I needed to get out. “I’m gonna go and work from home,” I told the others abruptly. “I might come back up if Gibson finishes early.”

I drove back with worry still heavy in my stomach. I’d never been very good at waiting around. Having to wait another day to find out if I was still on the case or not really wasn’t going to be good for my mental state.

But when I got close to my office, I could see immediately that something had happened. The glass in the door had been completely smashed in. Somebody had broken into my office!

I pulled over and parked quite untidily, clumsily locking the car behind me before rushing over to the broken door. As soon as I reached the office, I knew it was more than somebody just breaking in... Dread hit me all at once. The whole room had been ripped apart. And the walls... The walls...

Trembling, I slipped in through the hole in the door to get a closer look. The walls were covered in messy smears of what looked horribly like blood. Where had so much blood come from and why was it all over my walls?

As I got closer, I could see clumps of fibres in the blood. Ginger fur.

It was one of those moments where your eyes are drawn to something you know will be horrible, like the scene of a road accident. I felt my gaze slide towards the corner, towards the makeshift bed made out of my old jeans...

Beside it lay the mangled, bloody body of my poor cat.

I stumbled back out through the broken door pane, half crashing into it and cutting my arm on the remaining fragments of glass sticking out of the frame. I didn’t even feel it. I dropped to my knees at the roadside and threw up the contents of my stomach into the gutter.

I shivered uncontrollably, tears streaming down my face. Somebody had targeted me. Burglars wouldn’t have left such a horrific scene behind. Burglars wouldn’t have been so brutal. They wouldn’t have mauled my poor defenceless cat.

I choked on a sob. He wasn’t even my cat. I didn’t know who he really belonged to. But whoever it was would wonder why he’d never come back home. They’d probably think he’d been hit by a car. They’d never imagine that he could have been murdered by some psychopath...

I don’t know how long I stayed kneeling on the cold floor before somebody came along, but suddenly I could hear voices and then there was a hand on my shoulder. I couldn’t make out any of their words – it was like listening to somebody from the end of a tunnel. Everything sounded distorted.

The hand disappeared and then something else was being held in front of my face. It took me a while to realise that it was a cell phone. I stared at it before numbly taking it from the unknown hand. I held it to my ear, but I didn’t know what to say – all I could do was listen.

So, my god, was I glad to hear a familiar voice.

“Gee? Gee, is that you? Can you hear me?”

“Gibs...” My voice cracked on that one word.

Gibson’s voice came through sharper, more urgent. “Gee, what happened? Tell me where you are.”

“My office... Blood... They know...” I stuttered, unable to string a coherent sentence together through my tears.

“Gee, listen to me,” ordered Gibson. “Stay right there and don’t move – I’m coming to get you. Stay with those people. You must _not_ be left on your own.”

He hung up and I was left still stuttering at the phone. Somebody gently took it from me and then crouched down in front of me. It was a stocky, middle-aged man who I didn’t recognise.

“Do you need a hand up?” he asked kindly.

I managed a nod and the man proceeded to taking my arms and pulling me to my feet. I staggered, almost drunkenly, and somebody helped to steady me on my other side. I turned to find a tall, formally-dressed woman of indeterminate age with very prominent cheekbones. I didn’t know her either, but she was watching me with what seemed to be genuine concern.

“You called Gibs,” I managed to say. Everything was starting to come into clearer focus.

“We found you by the road,” the woman told me. Her words didn’t sound like they were echoing now. “We rang the police and told them where we found you. The receptionist seemed to recognise your address and she put us through to the superintendent. He asked to talk to you.”

I nodded again, feeling numb. “He said he’s coming here.”

“That’s good. We’ll wait with you until he gets here. You shouldn’t be left alone,” said the man firmly.

The woman said something else, but I zoned out again, staring straight ahead but not really seeing anything. A small part of my brain wondered if I’d gone into shock. I didn’t know. It was hard to think, hard to concentrate...

“Gee!”

I had no idea how much time had passed, but it had obviously been more than I’d thought because Gibson was suddenly there, hurrying towards me. I broke away from the nice couple and threw myself at him, burying my face in his shirt as I felt the tears start to fall again. Or maybe they hadn’t really stopped.

“God, Gee, what on earth happened?” he exclaimed, gingerly putting his arms around me. He then fell silent, obviously seeing into my office. I shut my eyes tight, trying to block all the thoughts from my head.

Time seemed to pass in another irregular burst as I clung to Gibson and then Kenichi was inexplicably here with us too. Gibson was talking to him, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. My hearing seemed to be working on and off. I tried to clumsily dry my eyes. It was silly, but I didn’t want to cry in front of Kenichi. I always tried so hard to fit in with the big boys... I could let it slide with Gibson – we’d already had to be there for each other before.

Kenichi managed to pull me away from Gibson. “It’s okay, Gee, you’re coming with me,” I heard him say.

I still turned back to Gibson. What about him? Was he going to try and fix Kyo? “You need to go with Kenichi, Gee. He’s taking you back to the hotel,” said Gibson gently. “I’ll sort things out here; don’t worry.”

I nodded – that seemed to be all I could really manage – and let Kenichi lead me over to his car. Once we were on the move, my head really started to clear. I suddenly became aware of everything and the pain of it squeezed my heart tight. I still couldn’t believe it. How could anyone be so cruel? So inhuman?

The drive back to the hotel seemed agonisingly slow. I had nothing to say throughout the whole ride and Kenichi didn’t say anything either. I was grateful – he knew me well enough to know that being kind to me while I was upset would only result in making me want to cry even more.

When we eventually got to the hotel, I mutely followed him inside. Instead of taking me through to the main room we’d all been working in, he led me through to a smaller room and sat me down in the kitchen area. It smelt quite strongly of coffee, which made me suspect it was Gibson’s room.

There was a small television on the breakfast bar. Kenichi turned it on for me. “Do you want me to stay with you or do you want me to go?”

I think he was fighting to keep his tone neutral, but I could hear the hint of concern in it. That alone made the tears prick at my eyelids again. I shook my head furiously and managed to mumble something about being on my own.

Thankfully, he understood. He gave my shoulder a brief squeeze before leaving the room. Once I was on my own, I tried to focus on the television screen, not wanting my thoughts to overwhelm me. But I couldn’t tell what I was supposedly watching. It could have been a soap or it could have been a documentary for all I knew.

I felt like I was staring at the screen for hours, even though it never really came into focus, and when the door opened, it made me jump. To my surprise, it was L. But when I noted the empty cup in his hand, I realised that this was probably his room. It looked like Gibson wasn’t the only coffee fiend here.

He looked even more awkward than usual. “Sorry. I can come back.”

“No, it’s okay,” I said quietly. I didn’t want to stop him from getting his sugar fix.

He looked unsure, but he left the door open and headed over to the breakfast bar regardless. I watched him as he cleaned out his cup and prepared the coffee. He was a lot easier to watch than whatever was on the television right now. But I turned away as soon as he looked up. It would probably make him even more uncomfortable if he knew I was watching him.

“What happened to your arm?”

I looked round at L to see that he was now studying me. I then looked down at my arm and was surprised to see the blood. It took me a while to remember how it had even happened. “Oh... It was glass.”

“You should get it cleaned up,” said L, his voice monotonous as ever.

I shook my head. “It’s fine.” The glass had drawn several thin scratches across my arm, but they weren’t deep and the blood had already dried into a crusty layer. I couldn’t have cared less, but the blood reminded me of the scene I’d stumbled onto at my office and it made my heart ache. I felt tears threaten my eyes again.

“Are you sure? Here...” L stepped over towards me, holding out a damp cloth.

I quickly jumped up out of my seat, ready to back away from him. “No, I’m okay,” I insisted, my voice wavering. I turned away, not wanting him to see my eyes welling up. Why didn’t he understand the rule of not being nice to me when I was upset?

L hesitated, then put the cloth back on the breakfast bar behind him. “Okay. Would you like some coffee?”

I shook my head more furiously, still not looking at him. I blinked frantically in an attempt to fight back the tears. “I don’t drink coffee.” My voice sounded unnaturally high, even to me.

Of course, L didn’t understand and remained idiotically persistent. “How about some hot chocolate?”

For some reason, his stupid question was the last straw. “No, thank you!” I wailed, the tears finally winning. I buried my face in my hands, trying as hard as I could not to sob.

After a few seconds, I heard the door close as L made his quick escape. I didn’t care. I hated people seeing me cry. I’d already filled my quota for that today. But it meant that, once again, I was alone with my thoughts, and now that I was already crying, I couldn’t seem to stop.

But then I felt something very light against my shoulder. Even though I knew I looked a mess, I lowered my hands. L was stood beside me. He hadn’t left the room at all – he’d simply closed the door to give me more privacy. His usual poker face was in place, but he patted my shoulder again. To my astonishment, I realised that he was actually trying to comfort me.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

But of course, his attempts to be nice only made it worse and, against my better judgement, I flung my arms around him and sobbed even harder. He stiffened, but his hand remained lightly on my shoulder and he very gingerly patted my back with his other hand. 

“I take it you don’t want tea either?”


	11. Pancakes and Fisticuffs

After the incident at my office, we all knew it was no longer safe there. Nobody was in any doubt that it had something to do with the case, so I’d had to move into one of the rooms at the hotel. With Chad as my escort, I’d gone back to my apartment a few days later to pick up everything I’d need.

The forensics team had already cleaned up the office, which I was grateful for. I didn’t need any lingering reminders of what had happened – the horrific images still in my head already had that job covered.

Luckily, whoever had broken into my office hadn’t been able to get into my apartment upstairs. The damage had been limited to the ground floor. They hadn’t even gotten into my desk, so my laptop that I kept locked inside was still intact.

I hadn’t really known how long I’d have to stay at the hotel for – and how much stuff I’d need – so I’d just grabbed the suitcase that I always used to visit my family in Osaka and filled it with clothes, toiletries, books, my laptop, some perfumes and my three favourite cuddly wolves. Surely that would keep me going for a while.

I didn’t like staying at the hotel. It could take months for me to get used to living in a new place. My sleeping pattern was even more messed up than usual. Which was why I was still sat up in bed at three in the morning, attempting to finish the next Georgina Kincaid book I’d started.

I wasn’t the only one still awake though. From the sounds I could hear through the walls, at least two other members of the team were up and about. The rooms we were using were all adjoining and Gibson had insisted that we keep the doors unlocked for extra vigilance. Mad-Eye Moody much?

I was cool with his idea though. My fears generally stemmed more from getting locked in a room than having somebody else intrude on me, so I didn’t mind leaving my door unlocked. Plus I always slept with my gun under my pillow, so I didn’t really have to worry much about the latter.

Eventually, I put my book away, conceding that it was time to at least try and sleep. I clicked the light off from the switch above my bed and lay back down, staring up at the dark ceiling. I really did hate sleeping in strange places. It always made me feel far too on edge. That was why I’d been putting it off by reading to keep my mind occupied.

But I knew I wouldn’t function properly if I didn’t get enough sleep. And if we wanted to solve this case anytime soon, I’d definitely need to be functioning properly. I settled into my usual sleeping position – one arm cuddling my Jerry wolf and the other free above the covers, ready to go for my gun if needed.

I started to doze on and off, not quite sleeping, but not entirely awake either. I kept hearing noises, but they sounded far away, seeming to reside in my dreams rather than reality...

But then I sensed movement that felt far too close to me and I jerked awake with the same swooping sensation in my stomach that you get if you miss a step while walking down some stairs. It wasn’t a dream or any other figment of my imagination – somebody was in my room!

My eyes flew open to see a dark shadow loom over me... _Crap_. No time to go for my gun – I’d never get the safety off in time. So I did the next best thing that came to mind, curling my hand into a fist and striking out with as much force as I could muster.

It connected with a satisfying smack, followed by a surprised yelp. I sat up quickly, grabbing my gun from underneath my pillow and jamming my other hand onto the light switch in the same movement. I flicked the gun’s safety catch off as light filled the room and swung it round, ready to fire, only to find that I wasn’t facing the sinister type of intruder I’d expected.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing in here?” I spluttered.

“I was trying to see if you were awake,” L explained quite calmly, his hand over his face. He looked a little shocked, despite his tone, like he hadn’t known what had hit him. I softened a little.

“Idiot,” I still chastised him, flicking the safety back up on the Browning. “Make some noise next time – don’t just loom over me like that.” I tucked the gun back into its bed under my pillow.

L seemed to have ignored everything I’d just said. He still looked stunned. “You punched me,” he said obviously.

It took everything I had not to laugh at him. “Yeah, I did,” I smiled. “Just be grateful I didn’t shoot you instead.”

He was still clearly not listening to me and gingerly rubbing his face. I hadn’t ever seen him look more human. Damn. I hoped I hadn’t done any permanent damage to him. I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed – I’d never been so grateful to be wearing boxer shorts.

“Here, let me have a look,” I said, moving over to him. L dropped his hand, but I couldn’t see properly in the light – his face was still half in shadow. I frowned. “The light’s no good here; you’ll have to sit down.”

Without giving him the option, I pulled him over to the bed, then pushed him down onto it. The slightest flicker of surprise flitted across his face. I was willing to bet he’d never had a girl force him onto a bed before... Oh shut up, Gee. Not the time!

Trying to ignore the distracting rambling in my head, I studied L’s face under the light. The skin around his eye was red and already a little swollen. Oh, man, I’d hit him a lot harder than I’d thought. “Well, I’m guessing you’ll have one hell of a black eye tomorrow... Do you want me to get you some ice?”

“No. Thank you,” said L, his voice back to his usual flat tone. Aww. I thought I’d been making some progress too.

“Erm, sorry about that,” I said, even though I didn’t feel like I should be apologising. He was the one who’d crept into my room in the middle of the night after all. “What were you even doing in here at this time?”

“Oh. I actually wanted to talk to you.”

At this time? Just because he was an insomniac didn’t mean that the rest of us didn’t sleep. Okay, so I’d been struggling to sleep myself, but still... That wasn’t the point.

I didn’t say any of that though. What I did say was, “Um... Okay.” I tentatively sat down on the bed beside him, wondering what was so important that it couldn’t have waited till daylight. “What’s up?”

“I know why you were targeted,” said L. “And I believe it’s my fault.”

Wow. That wasn’t what I was expecting. My stomach twisted in fearful anticipation. “What makes you say that?” I asked shakily.

“Your library card got left behind,” explained L.

I felt shock shoot through me. Of course. It had disappeared amongst all that stationary crap when I’d knocked those boxes over. I’d tried to find it, but the whole nearly getting burnt alive thing had kinda distracted me.

Oh god... Did that mean it was _my_ fault that Kyo had been killed? If I hadn’t have freaked out so bad and had found my library card, then they wouldn’t have known who I was and wouldn’t have been able to target me.

I bit my lip. “No. It’s my fault. Not yours... If I’d kept it together, I could have concentrated on finding my card.”

L clearly didn’t agree. “You were incapacitated. _I_ should have found your library card.”

“You were concentrating more on getting us out safe,” I pointed out. No need to remind him that he’d had to carry me. Urgh, that still bugged me. “That’s hardly a bad thing.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m an experienced detective. To forget something so important – to leave behind a means of identification – is unacceptable.”

I didn’t know what to say. I could see where he was coming from, even if I didn’t agree with it. I didn’t want him to keep blaming himself. It was actually really big of him to admit to me why I’d been targeted. It would have actually been so easy for me to just get angry and pass the blame onto him, but I couldn’t do it.

“Am I gonna have to punch you again to make you stop blaming yourself?” I joked.

“I’d rather you didn’t,” said L stiffly.

“You do realise I’m joking, don’t you?” I asked, feeling sceptical. Surely he couldn’t be that socially clueless.

“Well, you’ve already hit me once. I wouldn’t put it past you to do it again,” L pointed out.

“Hey, I apologised, didn’t I?” I protested. “Besides, you were the one who came sneaking into my room like a creeper. That was just self defence.”

“Perhaps you should install a doorbell,” L suggested.

“Perhaps you should just knock first,” I replied sarcastically. “If I had a doorbell, you’d just ignore it like you always do.”

I swear he almost cracked a smile. “You have a point.”

“And just for future reference, I sleep with a gun under my pillow,” I added, though teasingly.

“Duly noted,” said L. “Though I think I may rather take a bullet than another punch.”

“Now you’re just milking it,” I joked. But I still felt guilty, so I added, “Are you _sure_ you don’t want some ice or anything?”

“I’ll be fine,” said L. “I suppose I should be grateful that it was an accident and not a result of what I came here to tell you.”

“Trust me; that wouldn’t have even been a possibility,” I said truthfully.

Yes, I was still heartbroken over what had happened to Kyo, but that didn’t mean I was going to just take the easy route and let L carry the blame. Especially after he’d been bold enough to tell me the truth. And I knew that at the same time, I couldn’t blame myself either. It was done. There was no changing that. If I let that guilt eat me up, then we’d never get this case solved.

“I’m glad,” said L smoothly, getting to his feet. “Now that my conscience is clear, I’ll leave you to sleep.”

The way he said it was strange – almost sincere, but not quite. It made me wonder just how often he lied and how rarely he told the truth. With his perfect poker face and blank tone, I couldn’t imagine anyone having an easier time deceiving people.

But of course, I didn’t mention that. Instead, I just asked jokingly, “You have a conscience?”

Either he knew I was joking this time or he wasn’t offended by my question. “I do. It may not be the same as yours or anyone else’s, but it’s still there.”

And with that, he left, leaving me to mull over that last weird comment. Huh. Why did I always seem to pick the strange ones?

Still pondering, I climbed back into bed. As I did, I realised two things. One, my boxer shorts were a lot shorter than I’d actually thought. Two, I wasn’t wearing a bra underneath my flimsy top.

I pulled the covers up over my head with a groan. At some point this week, I was definitely going to have to invest in some pyjamas.

**XXX**

The next morning, I was woken up by an early phone call from Johnny. I stared at the phone in disbelief, then at my alarm clock, then back at the phone before answering.

“Either hell has frozen over or The Weather Girls were right and it _is_ raining men.”

“Very cute,” said Johnny, sounding amused. “I like the personal touch.”

“Seriously, what are you doing up so early?” I asked.

“There are only three acceptable excuses for me to be woken up so early in the morning,” explained Johnny. “Either if it’s snowing, a celebrity has died or... I’m being served delicious breakfast in bed by an even more delicious guy.”

I rolled my eyes, though I couldn’t help a smile. “I’m taking it on good faith that it’s sunny outside and that Ryan Reynolds is still alive.” Johnny was a big Ryan Reynolds fan. One of the rare times I could actually agree with him on a guy.

“Ah, Ryan Reynolds... No man on this earth could compare to such a godlike body...” Oh dear. Just one mention of Ryan Reynolds was sending Johnny into la-la land.

“Is said guy okay with you talking about another guy like that while he’s in the room?” I asked.

“He’s more interested in other things right now,” said Johnny.

I was horrified. “Wait a minute!” I spluttered. “You’d better not be doing anything while I’m on the phone to you!”

“Relax, Gee, I’m talking about breakfast,” said Johnny sardonically. “Pancakes require two hands to eat with, you know.”

“So how are you managing to hold the phone?” I pointed out.

“I’m being fed,” said Johnny smugly.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Slut.”

“You’re just jealous, honey,” replied Johnny loftily, now sounding like his mouth was full of what I was hoping was definitely pancake.

“Maybe I am,” I agreed. Pancakes in bed did sound appealing. Unfortunately, I’d have to actually get up and make them myself first. “So did you just call me to gloat or was there something else you wanted to talk about?”

“Yes, actually. Let’s go out somewhere tonight,” he said enthusiastically.

No ‘would you like to...’ Typical Johnny way of phrasing things. I sighed. “I think I’ll pass.”

“Come onnnn, don’t be miserable!” Johnny whined.

“I’m not!” I protested. “You know as well as I do that I’m in the middle of a big case right now.”

“And you already told me that you’ve hit another dead end,” Johnny reminded. “One night won’t kill you. And I’m sure Gibson won’t mind.”

It wasn’t Gibson I was worried about. So far, L had already had to carry me through a window, put up with my crying on him and had taken one of my punches. I didn’t want him to think I was a drunken party animal/slacker detective on top of all that.

“I just don’t think it’s the best idea right now,” I concluded.

“It’s the perfect idea!” argued Johnny. “Plus I even booked the night off for this.”

“You booked the night off specifically just to go out with me?” I repeated sceptically.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you could do with some cheering up,” replied Johnny. He knew about the whole Kyo ordeal. “And that’s why I’m betting Gibson won’t mind you having a night off too.”

I softened immediately. I could feel my resolve wavering. He was being super nice and that was difficult to argue with. “I don’t have any nice clothes with me,” I said lamely.

“I’ll buy you a new top while I’m in town today,” offered Johnny. Goddamn, he really was a force to be reckoned with. When I didn’t reply, he took my silence to be a good thing and suddenly sounded more eager. “Well?”

I sighed again. “Can you get me something in green?”

**XXX**

I told Johnny that I wasn’t going to drink much and that I didn’t want to stay out too late. Of course, he ended up twisting my arm on both.

But I wasn’t complaining – I was having too much of a good time. Johnny had gotten me a cute green top that had virtually no back, besides the halter-neck fastening. He’d left it at the front desk of the hotel for me on the afternoon, so I hadn’t had to worry about getting to his place first to get ready.

Getting more than a little tipsy meant that the secrets were starting to spill out. I complained about work for a while, then ended up telling Johnny quite a bit about my thoughts over L – more than I’d even realised myself.

Of course, Johnny lapped it all up. He’d been pestering me about guys for quite a while now. His advice was only half as good as his enthusiasm though. Mainly that I should just go for it and not worry about coming across as forward. Apparently, all the guys were into that these days.

He didn’t seem to understand when I tried to point out that it wasn’t _me_ who was the problem with that plan. But trying to explain what I’m sure was complete asexuality on L’s part turned out to be futile and I ended up turning to more drinks instead.

After a while, Johnny found a new friend to occupy himself with. Male, obviously. Even though I was roaring drunk, I still knew that having Johnny abandon me would soon result in me being bored. So I collared him as soon as his new friend went to get more drinks.

“What happened to your Ryan Reynolds runner-up guy?” I asked, slurring my words maybe a little too much. Hey, at least I was still forming coherent sentences.

“He’s still on the cards,” reassured Johnny, nowhere near as drunk as I was. Bastard. “I’ve gotta play the field though to find out who makes the best pancakes.”

“Go see Kay and Laura. Their cakes are better than any pancakes,” I said stupidly.

Johnny gave me a withering look. “When I say pancakes, I don’t actually mean pancakes.”

If I’d have been any less drunk, I would have understood instantly. As it was, I didn’t. I just stared at him in confusion. Had he been lying when he’d told me that he’d had pancakes in bed?

Johnny just laughed at the look on my face. “I think it’s time to send you home.”

“I don’t want to,” I said stubbornly. Another drink was starting to sound appealing again.

“What’s your favourite TV show?”

I stared at him again. What did that have to do with anything? I thought we’d been talking about food. “Are we still talking about pancakes?”

“The correct answer is Psych,” Johnny corrected. He put both hands on my shoulders. “Come on, I’ll call you a cab.”

Ever the gentleman – get rid of the girl first, then continue to play with the new guy. Though at least I didn’t have to wait outside on my own. If he’d have left me to it, I probably would have wandered off somewhere.

As it was, he had to physically help me crawl into the taxi that appeared. He gave me a bill of money, which I spent several minutes looking at in confusion, and told me to keep it in my hand. He then seemed to spend a long time talking to the driver.

It took me a while to realise that Johnny wasn’t in the car with us. Maybe he’d gone to eat pancakes somewhere? By the time I noticed his absence, the taxi was pulling up outside the hotel I’d been staying at.

“I live here!” I told the driver excitedly. What a coincidence!

The driver looked amused when he turned to look at me over the back of his seat, though I couldn’t understand what was funny. “Do you really? How strange. Now have you still got that bill that your friend gave you?”

I nodded and waved it at him. “Is this for you?”

“Yes, it is,” chuckled the driver. He took the bill from my fingers and then gave me a different one in return.

I stared at it. “What do I do with this one?”

“Why don’t you buy yourself some pancakes in the morning?” he suggested, still chuckling. “Seeing as you can’t seem to stop talking about them.”

“Okay!” I agreed brightly. Maybe I could win Johnny’s game of trying to find the best pancakes.

“Do you need help getting out?” offered the driver.

“No, it’s okay!” I insisted cheerily as I opened the door. “See you later!” I then promptly fell out onto the sidewalk.

The driver ended up helping me into the hotel and up to the front desk. The receptionist on duty watched me with a worried look on his face, then hurriedly directed me towards the elevator. As soon as the elevator started to ascend, it made me feel dizzy, so I quickly sat down on the floor in the corner. I stayed in the elevator for a while as other nocturnal types made their way up and down throughout the hotel. It was fun – almost like a rollercoaster.

But when the same security guard on one of the floors saw me for the third time, he told me to go back to my room. In response, I simply showed him my key, which I’d found out of my pocket whilst I’d been joyriding in the elevator. I knew I needed it, but I wasn’t quite sure what for.

Grumbling, the guard joined me in the elevator and pushed one of the buttons in the wall. When we reached the top floor, he led me down towards one of the doors. He took my key off me and used it to unlock the door before handing it back.

“Now don’t come out until morning,” he told me gruffly. He clearly thought I was going to try and find my way back to the elevator again.

“Do you want some pancakes?” I offered instead, giving him the bill that the nice taxi driver had given me.

The guard stared at me, bewildered. “Um, thank you?”

I told him I’d see him later – which probably injected some dread into him – then let myself in through the door he’d unlocked for me. I found myself in the main room that we’d all been working the case from. I looked around in wonder, amazed at how I’d ended up back here. How had the guard known where to bring me?

I was interrupted from staring at the ceiling by a rather awkward-sounding, “Good morning.”

My heart gave a happy leap when I saw that it was L, but my mind felt confused at his words. “It’s not morning. It’s still dark outside.”

“Technically, it’s morning, seeing as it’s almost three o’clock,” L pointed out flatly.

I shook my head adamantly. “It’s not morning till there’s birds out.”

L just stared blankly at me. Eventually, he said, “I’m going to make you some coffee.”

“I don’t drink coffee,” I said, swaying slightly on the spot.

“Yes, you do,” L insisted. 

I frowned to myself. _Did_ I drink coffee? Now I wasn’t so sure... Either way, I followed L through to the kitchen. He seemed a little uncomfortable at how close I was standing, but as far as I could recall, he did this to me all the time.

“Do we have pancakes?” I asked.

“I don’t believe we do,” said L, giving me a bewildered look whilst I leant against the counter.

“Oh... Okay,” I said vaguely, unable to remember what I’d even just asked. I was starting to feel really unbalanced and weird.

“Maybe you should sit down,” suggested L, now watching me with a scrutinising expression.

“I’m okay,” I said uncertainly. I couldn’t tell if this was me sobering up or just another sign that I was more drunk than I’d realised. My thoughts seemed a little more coherent at least. “I think I need some water.”

Unwilling to wait for the coffee that I didn’t even want, I straightened up as best as I could and made to move round towards the sink. The sudden movement made my head spin and I fell sideways before I could even attempt to catch myself.

Luckily, L was a lot quicker and managed to grab me before I hit the floor. I clung to him as he pulled me back up so that I was standing again. “You really should sit down.”

But right now, sitting down was the last thing on my mind. I was more aware of the fact that I’d never been so close to his face before. His expression was completely blank, as always, but being able to study him up so close, I could appreciate the startling contrast between raven hair and alabaster skin, the intensity of his large black eyes, how flawless his face was...

I’d always regarded him as an unusual and awkward-looking person. How had I never realised just how beautiful he actually was?

Suddenly, Johnny’s advice that I could just about remember from earlier on in the night didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Without stopping to think, I pulled L towards me and pressed my lips against his. 

His lips were cold and smooth, but it suddenly didn’t seem as heartfelt as I’d imagined it would be. I’d wanted to taste him ,but all I could taste was the remnants from all the alcohol I’d already consumed. And that wasn’t the worst part... I realised then that L had stiffened and completely frozen up. His arms were no longer holding onto me – they were hanging loose and awkwardly at his sides.

The realisation sobered me up in an instant and I quickly pulled back. But the damage was already done. L’s eyes were wide and staring and, for the first time, his face was showing raw emotion, not just a shadow of it. But it wasn’t an emotion I’d been hoping to see. 

Love. Happiness. Even amusement. Any of those would have done. But no. It was shock. I could see that he was completely and utterly astounded by what I’d just done. Nothing else. The look on his face showed that it was in no way a positive thing for him.

Colour flooded my face and I could think of no excuse for what I’d done. “Erm... I’m going to bed,” I stuttered. “I... I’m sorry.”

I pushed past him and got out of the room as quickly as I could, still staggering, but doing pretty well considering how drunk I’d been . Nothing like an arrow through the heart to sober you up. L didn’t say anything and he didn’t try to stop me.

As soon as I was in my room, I managed to drag the dresser – with some difficulty – across so that it was blocking the doorway. I definitely didn’t want any intruders tonight. Practically falling onto my bed, I wrenched my boots off, then buried myself in the covers without bothering to undress.

_Now_ what the hell had I gone and done?

**XXX**

The following morning was agonising.

When you’re hungover, it’s really difficult to concentrate on something other than the fact that you’re hungover. So it showed that my mind was in serious turmoil when my hangover was only my secondary issue.

Don’t get me wrong – I felt like total crap. Which was why I’d stayed in bed and hadn’t moved an inch for at least a good hour since I’d woken up. My theory was that the less I moved, the less likely I was to throw up.

I was trying really hard not to address the main issue in my head.

But I couldn’t just stay in bed forever. For one thing, I was in desperate need of water. And I knew that the longer I took to surface, the more stick I’d get from the guys. Especially Chad.

I took my morning in baby steps. Rolling over was hard. Sitting up was even harder. Eventually, I managed to make it to the bathroom without throwing up, though it was still a definite possibility. I filled the glass I’d had on my nightstand with water and sipped at it tentatively whilst I sat on the edge of the bathtub, still trying not to think too much.

After what had to have been another half an hour, I decided I may as well face the music. My hangover wasn’t going to clear any time soon and I didn’t want to increase the level of torment I was going to get from the police officers. And – I finally allowed myself to address the matter – no length of time was going to make it any less awkward for me to face L.

My brave decision was delayed, however, when I realised I had to shift the dresser back out of the doorway – why in the hell had I decided that was a good idea? Manual labour is definitely not good for a hangover, so I loitered around the toilet for another twenty minutes afterwards just to be on the safe side.

Eventually, I did show my face and, as I’d predicted, Chad took one look at me and burst out laughing. “Wow, Gee, you look like shit.”

“Can’t look worse than I feel,” I replied, taking a seat next to Kenichi. Even he looked like he was trying to hide a smile. “If anyone makes any loud noises, I swear I’ll put a bullet in them later.”

“Hey, you poisoned yourself. Accept your fate, Gee,” grinned Chad. There was no sympathy for the self-inflicted.

“I swear to god, Chad...”

I was actually grateful that the banter went on for a while. It took my mind off my uneasy stomach and my pounding head. Plus I was trying as hard as I could not to interact with L. I was scared to even look at him. For once, I was grateful that he was the quieter one in the group.

After another hour, I was starting to feel better. The banter had ceased and we’d crossed over into more discussion over the case. I found that I could even respond to L, so long as I didn’t meet his gaze directly. I knew that was unprofessional of me and that I wouldn’t be able to continue doing so for long, but I decided that I was allowed today. My fragile state just really wasn’t up to it right now.

But, as always, my luck ran out. Gibson’s cell phone rang and he left the room to take the call. Chad used the opportunity to go outside for a smoking break and Kenichi disappeared to make coffee. Before I’d even realised what was happening, I found myself alone in the room with L.

Well, hell.

Whilst I was trying to think of an excuse to make a break for it, L actually decided he was going to quit being an introvert and break the silence himself. Bully for him.

“So are you feeling any better now?” he asked, his usual poker face firmly in place.

“Well, I’m feeling a little more like I may survive now,” I replied, purposely overdramatic. When feeling awkward, turn everything into a joke. That was my best defence.

“Did you find any pancakes in the end?”

I frowned. Was he making fun of me somehow? I couldn’t tell – his tone was as flat as ever. Not to mention I didn’t get the reference. Maybe this was what everyone else felt like every time I made Psych or wacky movie related comments. “What are you talking about?”

“You seemed to want pancakes earlier this morning,” explained L.

My frown deepened, though this time, because it actually sounded familiar. I was pretty sure that hadn’t been the first time pancakes had come up last night. I’d have to ask Johnny about that one. “No, I didn’t... To be honest, I can’t really remember the relevance.”

“I take it you don’t want any now?”

Oh, great, now even _he_ was making fun of my delicate condition. “Why? Are you offering?” I asked, finding myself slipping into my teasing tone without even meaning to.

L stiffened and a flicker of something crossed his face. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I doubted it was something good. What the hell was wrong with me? Now I was inadvertently flirting with him and freaking him out even more. My stomach turned unpleasantly. Although now I was sure that it was more hangover related.

L’s expression changed again. “Are you alright? You look quite green.”

I managed to scramble rather ungainly out of my chair. “I’ll let you know on that one,” I told him in an odd tone before dashing off towards my room.

I managed to make it to the toilet in time, but it still didn’t make the act of throwing up any less unpleasant. I spat bitterly into the bowl. I was not touching another drop of alcohol as long as I was on this case. And I was seriously going to have to watch what I was saying to L or he was going to think I was some crazy woman constantly trying to jump him.

Okay, that wasn’t _entirely_ untrue, but he didn’t need to know that. It would probably send him running for the hills.

Or maybe ‘jump him’ wasn’t the right phrase. I’d never had sex in my life and it certainly wasn’t something I was looking to explore anytime soon. But I definitely had some kind of weird attraction towards L, whether I liked it or not, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I groaned. I really didn’t want to deal with this right now. These kind of thoughts were going to just have to be put on hold, I decided firmly.

Once I was sure I wasn’t going to be sick again, I rinsed my mouth out thoroughly and then brushed my teeth. The minty toothpaste didn’t make me want to hurl, so I took that to be a sign that the worst was over.

When I went back to the main room, it was full again. As soon as Gibson saw me enter, he asked, “Are you feeling any better now?”

I was sure he was asking partly out of concern, but his tone seemed businesslike. Oh god... I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like whatever I was going to hear next. “Sort of... Why?”

“Because if you’re feeling up to it, I think you should come with us. There’s been another murder. We’ve got a crime scene to get to.”

Really? While I was hungover?

“Son of a bitch...”


	12. Is This Case Over?

Why did shit always go down when I was hungover?

The ride to the crime scene all the way over in Ujitawara was not pleasant. We took two police cruisers, so I purposely chose to ride in the opposing car to L. I then spent the entire journey with my eyes shut tight, willing my stomach to settle. 

I was hoping that my self-pity would keep me detached enough so that I wouldn’t freak when I saw the body of the victim. I’d never done a crime scene whilst hungover before and I definitely didn’t need anything else to turn my stomach.

To avoid L meant not being in the same car as Gibson, which was a shame because he already knew more details about the victim. All Kenichi was able to tell me was that the victim was female and that the scene was more similar to the last one we’d encountered near Wazuka. That wasn’t a comforting thought.

The other cruiser got there first. I didn’t know who had called in the murder in the first place, but when we got to the house in question, there wasn’t anyone else around. Chad was the only one stood outside. He looked grim.

“You sure you wanna go in, Gee?” he asked tentatively. “It’s pretty bad.”

To bring down happy-go-lucky Chad, it had to be. It didn’t exactly fill me with confidence, but I still nodded. “I can handle it. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing left in my stomach to lose right now.”

Even so, I let Kenichi go first and followed him through. Hey, my bravery wasn’t endless. I immediately regretted my decision though, as soon as we entered the house. The ripe stench of decay filled the air. Feeling my stomach turn over, I quickly switched to breathing through my mouth. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this particular victim hadn’t been discovered for a while.

“Which room?” I asked. I realised quite quickly that I probably wasn’t going to be able to hold out in here for long.

“This way.” Kenichi jerked a thumb towards one of the doors.

I didn’t bother asking how he knew. He was probably braving the smell and could tell where it was coming from. Everything was eerily quiet, making me wonder if Gibson and L were even still in the house.

Nope. They were here. They both turned to look as Kenichi opened the door. From where we were, we couldn’t see the body – the breakfast bar was blocking it from view. I took a deep breath through my mouth before stepping around it to get a better look.

Oh god... It was even worse than I’d expected. Like last time, the victim’s face had been completely mangled beyond recognition. The face matter had all congealed in an ugly dark mess and the floor was coated in pools of dry brown blood. Flies were starting to buzz around the kitchen, attracted by the smell.

I caught a vague glimpse of where everyone was standing before my head span and my vision started to blur. Bile rose in my throat. I’d said I had nothing left in my stomach to throw up, but now I wasn’t so sure. I had to get out. I didn’t care what dignity it cost me – it wasn’t like I had a lot of that left either.

“Excuse me,” I managed to say, attempting to push past Kenichi.

I stumbled, the dizziness in my head taking over. I was aware of a firm hand seizing my arm and leading me back out of the house, half holding me upright. The hand released me once we were outside and I leant heavily against the wall with my eyes shut, praying I wouldn’t throw up again.

“Maybe one of us should take you back to the hotel,” offered Kenichi gently. He was the one who’d brought me outside.

I shook my head. “No, I’ll stay. I just... I don’t think I can go back in there.”

I hated that they were giving me sympathy over this. It was all my fault – I should never have let myself get so drunk whilst I was on a case. I couldn’t even work in this state. What kind of detective was I?

“Don’t worry about it; nobody’s going to blame you for that,” Chad reassured me. He was still outside, making sure there’d be no interruptions from civilians. “We’ve got enough people here to do this. You can go back in, Ken. I’ll stay out here with Gee.”

From what I could tell with my eyes shut, Kenichi didn’t even react to being called Ken. He patted me on the shoulder and I heard him step back inside the house.

“You _should_ blame me,” I said quietly, still dwelling on what Chad had just said.

“Don’t be stupid,” said Chad, sounding surprised. “Gee... What’s inside that house is enough to turn anybody’s stomach. You can’t hold that against yourself.”

“I wouldn’t have been as bad if I hadn’t let myself get into this state in the first place,” I argued.

“Do you really think you’d have been able to stay in that room even if you weren’t hungover?” Chad pointed out.

I thought about it. He was right. This was so, _so_ much worse than the last time, whether I was hungover or not. I’d seen a lot of bad things in this line of work. Rotting bodies were definitely one of the worst. It had been hard enough making myself examine the last victim – without the level of decomposition – but I still had and I’d even given L the chance to escape having to do it too. Now he was the one who was in there with the rotting corpse whilst I was the one ready to bolt.

“The others are still in there though,” I said miserably.

“Gibs has no choice. It’s his job,” Chad reminded me. “And we’ve always said that Kenichi’s got nerves of steel.”

“What about L?” I pointed out stubbornly. “He’s still in there too.”

“You clearly didn’t get a good look at his face.”

I opened my eyes in surprise. His face? I tried to remember seeing L in the kitchen before I’d bottled it. Thinking about it made the image clearer – I hadn’t quite been able to process it at the time. But I could recall how he’d been stood in the furthest corner of the room from the body, not as hunched up as usual, but standing straight and tense.

He really was just as human as the rest of us. Nobody could deal with seeing that without being affected.

“He still stayed though,” I said. Although this time, I felt more proud than resentful. “He didn’t have to run out in case he threw up.”

“He didn’t have a shitload of alcohol in his system,” said Chad, a small sympathetic smile on his face.

“You’re not supposed to be nice to me about it,” I grumbled. It was harder to be annoyed with myself when everyone else was busy being nice.

Chad just laughed. “Do you want me to be nasty instead? It happens to the best of us, Gee. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” He then hesitated before adding, “Ryuzaki didn’t want you to come here, y’know. But Gibson thought otherwise.”

I sighed. That didn’t surprise me after the way I’d been behaving. “Of course, he didn’t.” Aside from throwing myself at him last night, I really wasn’t making a very good example of myself as a detective.

“Actually, I think he was more concerned that this would happen,” said Chad, gesturing his hand towards me.

“He was worried that I’d bail?”

“He was worried that you’d make yourself more ill.”

“Huh?” I stared at Chad, who had now pulled his lighter out of his pocket and was turning it over between his fingers. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he started flicking the lid open and closed, but for once, I didn’t chastise him for it.

“You’re already ill, whether it’s self-inflicted or not,” Chad continued. “There’s no need to make it worse.”

My mind was still reeling from what he’d said about L. Surely L didn’t _care_ about me? That was absurd. He’d probably just been worried that I’d puke and contaminate the crime scene.

Still, I pushed it all to the back of my mind so that I could register what Chad had just said. “I didn’t wanna get left behind,” I said lamely.

“Gee, you’re ill. You’re allowed days off sick, y’know,” said Chad. “You can count on these guys to fill you in on every last detail.”

“You’re still treating me like I’m actually ill,” I said, almost accusingly.

“And you’re still feeling guilty that you went out and enjoyed yourself last night,” replied Chad. “Gibson okayed it, so why are you worrying? You still have to let your hair down once in a while. You’d go crazy on this job if you didn’t.”

It was true. Gibson had been all for me having a night out, especially after recent events with Kyo. It wasn’t like I’d been out of line and just gone off partying without consent. Maybe I really was being too hard on myself.

I gave Chad a rueful smile. “When did you get so wise?”

“Hell if I know,” he grinned.

Both my mind and my stomach eased up the longer I stood outside, though I still couldn’t quite brave going back into the house again. I offered to stand guard myself, but Chad said he was happy to stay out and keep me company. It made me wonder just how much this scene was affecting him too. But after he’d been so nice to me, I could hardly point it out. I’d let him keep his dignity.

Eventually, the others finished up and joined us outside. I’m not sure if it was because I was looking for noticeable signs of shock, but L seemed paler than usual. Though besides that, he was still wearing his usual poker face.

Great. So he could witness a murder scene as gruesome as this and still appear virtually unfazed, but one drunken kiss from me and he was traumatized? It seemed a little harsh on my skill really.

Kenichi had offered to be the one to wait to hand the scene over to forensics, since Gibson looked like he was in dire need of coffee. It was super nice of him – I knew that I couldn’t wait to get away from this place.

The rest of us filed into Gibson’s car. Since I was the ‘invalid’, I got to ride up front. Yippee. I was happier about the fact that it meant I didn’t have to sit in the back with L. I still wasn’t ready for that, though I knew I was going to have to apologise for my behaviour sooner rather than later.

By the time we got back to the hotel, the effect of Chad’s cheery advice was wearing off and I was starting to feel stupid again. Today was a pretty low point for me. I’d never had to run out of a crime scene before. I’d probably never live that down.

I decided to retire to my room for a bit and do some more reading to keep my mind distracted. I was still feeling a little iffy. Gibson had said that they’d run through everything with me once Kenichi was back. 

I must have fallen asleep, because when somebody knocked on my door, I realised that my book was resting flat open on my face. Clearly sleep was good for me though – my stomach felt a lot more settled as I sat up.

“You can come in,” I called, confident that it wasn’t L, since he wouldn’t have knocked.

It was Gibson. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” I said gratefully. “Is Kenichi back yet?”

“He literally just walked in.”

“Great. Let’s get this show on the road then,” I enthused, ready to try and prove my worth again. So far today I’d just been a total dead weight on the team.

“Can I talk to you first?” requested Gibson hesitantly.

I’d just started to get up, but I sat back down again. “Um, sure. What’s up?” Uh oh... Did this mean that I was in trouble again?

Gibson looked uncomfortable, like it was something he didn’t want to bring up. “Is there something going on between you and Ryuzaki?”

Shit. I fought hard to keep my face blank. “What do you mean?” Had L told him about last night? Oh crap, I was hoping like hell that he hadn’t.

“Well, you kinda seem like you’ve been avoiding each other today,” said Gibson. “I was wondering if you guys had had a fight or something.”

Okay. That wasn’t what I’d expected. I felt quite relieved. “No, nothing like that. I didn’t even realise I was doing it,” I lied. Poor Gibson – he really was as sharp as ever.

“Oh, that’s good,” he said. He never liked to have trouble amongst his team. “But there’s, err... just one more thing.”

“What is it?” I asked suspiciously. He now looked shiftier than ever.

“Erm, well the rest of us had kinda been wondering about his black eye...”

Oh, hell. I’d been hoping nobody would mention that. I’d been trying not to think about it myself every time I looked at L. I still felt kinda guilty that I’d hit him so hard. I couldn't believe they thought I'd done it on purpose.

“Okay, that was an accident...” I said, starting to defend myself. I didn’t get any further, because Gibson suddenly started laughing.

“I knew that was you! Are you sure you weren’t just fighting over who was the best detective?” he teased.

“No way!” I protested. “He came into my room without knocking and scared the crap out of me! I didn’t mean to hit him - it was just instinct!”

Of course, that just made Gibson laugh even more. “I’m sorry, Gee,” he said eventually, still chuckling. “But I had to ask. You know I don’t want any trouble amongst the ranks.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about that,” I grumbled. The sad truth was that what he’d actually have to worry about was me being too friendly.

After a few more jokes at my expense, we went to join the others so that they could all give me a rundown of what they’d concluded from the crime scene. It wasn’t a very long rundown. The victim was a middle-aged woman called Mayu Ohba. No immediate family, only a small circle of friends, average job... I was starting to get bored of hearing the same statistics over and over.

The only difference with this woman was that she’d been quite a bit wealthier than all of the previous victims. Most of her identification was missing, like the last time, but forensics had managed to find an old loyalty card for her local supermarket and had been able to identify her straightaway.

They’d also concluded that she’d died from stab wounds to the chest and that the face trauma had been inflicted afterwards. It was starting to sound more and more like an extreme attempt at identity theft and Gibson made sure that her name was listed with the fraud department. He’d also started compiling a small list of people that we could interview.

Besides that, there wasn’t really anything else we could do. Again.

I stayed up quite late that night in the main room, reviewing everything that we’d investigated so far. I’d slowly been munching my way through some cold toast. Even though my stomach had settled long ago, I wasn’t quite brave enough to try anything more adventurous than that.

Everyone else had already retired for the night. Or so I’d thought.

“It’s very late, you know.”

I jumped and sent several of my papers flying. “I thought you were asleep!” I accused.

“I told you. I don’t sleep much,” said L blankly.

Please don’t sit down, please don’t sit down, I thought to myself. But to my dismay, he climbed onto the chair opposite me. Hell. I wasn’t sure I was ready to deal with this just yet. Sighing, I leant down to collect the papers I’d dropped.

“Surely you could do with a good night’s sleep,” said L.

“Sleep’s not really on the cards. Right now, I just want to do something useful,” I replied truthfully, shuffling my papers back into order. The implication about last night hung in the air and I was trying to ignore it.

“I don’t think you have to prove yourself here.”

I bit my lip. I didn’t agree. I stared at the front paper without really seeing the words on it. “Yeah, I do... I’m a really shit detective... Aren’t I?”

“No. I don’t think you are,” replied L monotonously.

As always, his expression gave nothing away, but I still gave him a scrutinising look. “Everyone’s being too nice to me about this.”

“Surely you don’t want to be punished instead?” said L.

“Not really. I think my stomach’s already punished me enough,” I said ruefully.

The slightest ghost of a smile crossed L’s face. “There you go. This is clearly just your way of blowing off steam. Everybody’s entitled to their own vices.”

True. But why was it just me who seemed to be doing it? “So what do you do to blow off steam?” I could envision him saying something like chess or solitaire so I purposely added, “Y’know... Like something physical.”

If I’d asked anyone else that, I would have received some kind of innuendo in response. I was pretty certain that it wouldn’t be a problem with L. 

The question actually seemed to make him stop and think. “Something physical?” He chewed thoughtfully on the tip of his thumb. “I guess I quite like tennis.”

Okay... Last answer I could have possibly imagined. “Um, really?”

Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice my disbelief. “Yes. I was actually once the British junior champion.”

I wasn’t sure which I was more surprised at – the possibility of him being British or the fact that he was a champion at tennis. I decided to voice the one where my disbelief wouldn’t sound offensive. “You’ve lived in Britain?”

“I have. As have you,” L pointed out.

“Yeah, I... Wait, how did you know that?” I asked in surprise.

“It’s a fair assumption,” replied L. “Your accent is very different from most Japanese citizens. And I know that Georgia is a name of Irish descent.”

So it was. My dad’s side of the family was half English and half Irish. My accent had been moderately influenced by my crazy Auntie Maggie whilst I’d been growing up. Score two brownie points for L. “Huh. You’re right.”

“Of course,” said L simply. He didn’t seem smug about it, but he wasn’t unsurprised either. “So do _you_ like tennis?”

“Erm... Well, I can’t say I’ve played since high school,” I admitted. “I remember the rules though. I guess I could pick it up again if I wanted.” I hesitated. “You know... If you wanted to play some time.”

“Yes. That would be fun,” agreed L, still completely deadpan. But hey, it was a start.

The only thing was that I really didn’t feel I deserved him being nice to me. I was going to have to apologise now if I wanted to stop feeling so damn guilty. “L, I’m really sorry about last night,” I blurted out before I could change my mind. “I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

And just like that, the mood changed. “It’s fine,” said L briskly, straightening up as he stepped down from the chair.

I could tell from his sudden desire to leave that it definitely _wasn’t_ fine. Maybe bringing up last night wasn’t the best idea after all, I thought miserably to myself. L stopped as he passed by my seat and I cringed, wondering what else he was going to say.

Then to my absolute surprise, he very gingerly patted me on the head. “Goodnight Gee. Don’t stay up too late.”

And of course, I just sat there gaping like an idiot. L didn’t say any more than that and I stared after him in shocked silence as he left the room. What had just happened?

I ended up taking his advice and packed my stuff up soon afterwards so that I could retire to bed. But once again, my mind was in turmoil and it was a long time before I actually slept.

**XXX**

It was becoming harder and harder for me to get a read on L and it was starting to really irritate me. I’d always been very perceptive and good at judging people, so how could one person manage to elude me so completely?

Don’t get me wrong; I was glad he wasn’t holding it against me that I’d thrown myself at him the other night. But once again, things weren’t going my way and I could feel myself reverting back to my doom and gloom mode that seemed to have taken over a lot more than usual whilst I’d been on this case. Though I think that was mostly due to how slow-going the whole thing had been.

And it didn’t really help that we still didn’t have any new leads. Personally, I was just proud that I wasn’t screaming my head off from frustration yet.

Another thing that had succeeded in irritating me further was that I’d left one of my new Georgina Kincaid books back at my apartment. The worst thing was that it was one from the middle of the series, so now I couldn’t read the two that followed after it either.

This probably wouldn’t have bothered most people, but when I start something I like to finish it. I can’t branch off and start on something else – whether it’s books, TV shows or even cases. I like to get stuck into one thing at a time and it was now extremely frustrating that my habit was being challenged.

Gibson had made it perfectly clear that my office was a no-go zone after I’d first been escorted by Chad to pick up what I’d needed. He’d also said that if I needed additional clothes or toiletries, I’d just have to buy more. So I highly doubted I’d be allowed back for just one book.

I’d been so annoyed that I’d even checked the library and the local bookstore. Neither of them had the book I wanted. My only option was ordering it online, but none of the websites offered a delivery date that was less than a week away. I didn’t want to wait that long.

Of course, this then led me to come up with the idea of quickly popping back to my place without telling anyone. It would only take me a few minutes to get in and get the book I needed. And I could take my gun just to be on the safe side. Nobody would have to know.

I knew it probably wasn’t the smartest idea, considering everything that had happened. But really... What could possibly go wrong?

Unfortunately, things started to go wrong before I could even put my plan into action. When I left the hotel, I told Gibson and the others that I was just going to see Johnny. It didn’t seem to have aroused any suspicions. Easy.

But as I headed down towards my car, I sensed somebody following me. I’d learnt to never deliberate over the possibilities of friend or foe, so I whirled round with my hand up and ready to strike.

L grabbed my wrist before I could do any damage. It didn’t surprise me that his reflexes were better after he’d already been hit by me once. And it didn’t entirely surprise me that he was the one who was following me either.

I sighed and pulled my arm away. “Why are you following me?”

“Because I know that you’re lying,” replied L, completely deadpan.

“About what?” I said, putting on my best innocent expression.

“You’re not going to visit your friend; you’re doing something you shouldn’t be,” said L.

“What makes you say that?” I asked, my innocent act slipping a little.

“Because I can tell when people are lying,” said L simply. “When you deal with deceit as much as I do, you become quite good at recognising it.”

I scowled. I clearly wasn’t fooling him. “Well, either way, it’s none of your business so just go back to the hotel.”

“It is my business if you could be jeopardising the case,” L pointed out smoothly.

“I’m not jeopardising anything!” I protested. “There’s just something I need to get...”

L regarded me carefully. “You’re going back to your apartment, aren’t you?” I didn’t say anything. “What’s so important that you need to get?”

“I told you it’s none of your business,” I repeated.

I couldn’t possibly tell him now that it was just for a book – it would sound so childish. It wasn’t supposed to be this difficult. I’d intended to be in and out of my apartment within minutes, but I still hadn’t even left the damn parking lot yet.

“Then get Mr. Gibson or one of the others to accompany you,” said L.

“They won’t,” I replied bluntly. Even though Gibson had a vague idea of how many times I’d read Dracula, he still didn’t quite understand my obsession with books. He certainly wouldn’t risk anything for one.

“So you’re going to go off on your own on another vigilante mission?” asked L condescendingly.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child,” I said hotly. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”

“That’s good, because I wouldn’t say I’m exactly bodyguard material,” said L.

“Excuse me?”

“You know I’m going to go with you.”

“Like hell you are!” I objected.

L looked slightly exasperated. “Look, Gee... We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either accept that I’m going with you or I’ll have to tell Mr. Gibson what you’re doing.”

I glared at him. I was feeling an annoying sense of déjà vu here. “Why does it matter to you whether I go alone or not?”

“I don’t think Mr. Gibson would be very happy with me if he knew I’d willingly let you go alone,” replied L.

What a great answer. I scowled again. Like before, I knew I had no choice. I wasn’t going to be able to get rid of him. “Fine. Just get in the car,” I said between gritted teeth. Even if I did think he was kinda cute, it didn’t make him any less aggravating.

The drive back to my place wasn’t pleasant. L remained his usual silent self, whilst I was still irritated that he’d managed to bribe his way into babysitting me again. For god’s sake... All I wanted was one book! 

The silence did turn out to be a good thing though. It gave me time to think things through. So when I pulled up a road away from my place – just to play it safe and keep my car from being spotted – I had a plan fully formed in my mind.

I purposely left the key in the ignition with the engine running. “You’re gonna have to stay here,” I told L shortly.

L’s face didn’t change. “That wasn’t what we agreed on.”

“The less people that show up at my office, the better. One person isn’t going to be as noticeable,” I countered. “Plus I’m in a no parking zone here, so I’ve gotta keep the engine running.” Okay, I’d done that part on purpose to back up my plan.

It didn’t look like L was impressed with my thinking ahead. “Ten minutes.”

“A second more and you’re free to follow,” I promised. No way would it take me that long. 

“Fine,” agreed L. He didn’t sound happy about it. Oh well.

I jumped out of the car and gave him the thumbs up. “Ten minutes,” I repeated. I didn’t want him following me early and leaving my car in a no parking zone. I knew it wouldn’t take me ten minutes to get back.

I hurried down the road to conserve my time even more. I felt a pang of sadness when I reached my office and saw the boards that had been put up to block the empty pane in the door. With the blinds closed as well, it felt even more claustrophobic once I was inside.

Never mind... That wasn’t important right now. What I needed to concentrate on was getting my book and getting back out as quickly as I could to prevent the risk of L throwing a strop. I hurriedly unlocked the door to my apartment and rushed upstairs. I found my book in record time – as well as another unread series I had by the same authoress. I threw them all into a plastic bag that I’d grabbed from underneath the sink in the kitchen. I couldn’t think of anything else that I needed.

As I was heading back downstairs, I heard my office door open. It couldn’t be L – I hadn’t even been gone for five minutes yet. Did that mean I had a client? _Now_? You had to be kidding... I’d have to try and fob them off quickly without being rude if I wanted to make it back to my car within my allocated ten minutes.

I jumped down the last several stairs and pushed through the door into my office with the bag of books in one hand and my keys in the other hand. Sure enough, a young man was hovering inside near the front door.

“I’m sorry, I’m closed right now,” I apologised. What were the chances of someone coming by the one time I’d unlocked the door in weeks? “I’m actually going to be away from the office for...”

I stopped dead in my tracks, dropping everything on the floor. I _knew_ this man. I recognised him from the photographs I’d been looking at only yesterday... It was Jin Tanaka.

I grabbed my gun from its holster and swung it upwards in one quick movement. “You’ve got some nerve showing your face here.”

“I can’t stop it,” he choked out. “I don’t wanna do it anymore...”

I hesitated. That wasn’t quite the reaction I’d expected. “What are you talking about?”

“I can’t do it! I have to stop!” he rambled.

I didn’t lower my gun, but this time, I actually looked at him properly. If I hadn’t been looking at his photographs just last night, I might not have recognised him. His face was drawn and his eyes were bloodshot and lined with dark shadows behind his long, unkempt hair.

Could he really be our killer? He seemed so... broken. That was the only word I could think of to describe it. But then I guess that being unstable is a common trait among criminals. He was shaking – like he was ready to bolt at any second. No way could I let that happen.

“Are you Jin Tanaka?” I asked. I had to keep him talking and try to calm him down.

“Yes,” he replied after several seconds. “You have to help me...”

“Why did you come here?” I cut across him.

“I’ve been watching...” he said distantly. “I saw you go inside.”

That was creepy. How long had he been keeping an eye on my office for? “You have a younger brother called Shou Tanaka. Is that correct?”

“No,” he moaned piteously. “Not anymore.”

Now that sounded promising. “Did you kill him?”

“You have to help me,” he repeated, starting to ramble again. “I can’t stop...”

“Did you kill Shou Tanaka?” I demanded.

“I had to!” Jin finally cried out.

Now that was a confession if ever I heard one. It was definitely enough for us to arrest him. But what was I supposed to do? I didn’t have any restraints I could use – I wasn’t a cop anymore. I could only shoot if it was in self defence.

“You keep saying I have to help you,” I said slowly. “What exactly do you need help with?”

“I just want to stop,” he groaned, practically pleading with me. He seemed positively deranged. “I don’t want to be part of this anymore.”

His words didn’t make sense. Was he trying to tell me that he was being controlled by someone else? That there was somebody forcing him to kill people? I would have felt a lot safer talking him through this in an interrogation room. If he ran for it, then any passing civilian could be in danger. He wasn’t stable – he was behaving like a caged animal. And if an animal is spooked, it can attack.

“If I promise to help you, will you at least sit down?” I said reasonably. If I could just get him away from the door, then maybe I could control the situation enough to call the police.

“You’ll really help me?” he asked, staring at me with wild eyes.

“As much as I can,” I said. L wasn’t the only one who was good at lying.

After what felt like an agonisingly long time, Jin nodded. “Okay.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling some of the weight lift from my chest. “Good. Now if you just come and sit over here, I’ll lower my gun and...”

I didn’t get any further. The door banged open as L stormed in. He came to an abrupt halt, astonished to see Jin there. My stomach flipped over. I knew straightaway that this wasn’t going to end well – I could see Jin starting to panic as he looked frantically from me to L.

“You lied to me!” he shouted. “You’re not going to help – you’re ambushing me!”

“No, we’re not! Just calm down!” I attempted to reassure him, feeling my own panic rising. “L, get the hell out of here!”

“You’ll get the cops on me! I can’t let you leave!” Jin shrieked as he lunged at L with his hands outstretched, going for his throat.

“ _No_!” I cried. I didn’t hesitate – I pulled the trigger.

Luckily, L had seen me raise my gun and neatly dodged out of the way. The bullet slammed into Jin’s shoulder, knocking him sideways. He howled in pain as he clutched the wound, leaning heavily against the window behind him. He was out of action, for now. Thank god...

It had been a long time since I’d shot anyone. I stared at L, my eyes wide from what had just happened. “How many times have I gotta tell you to use the fucking doorbell?”


	13. Didn't See That One Coming

Jin Tanaka told us everything. Well... almost everything.

He confirmed that Carter Burnham had been involved in an affair and that Shou had killed both him and Elizabeth out of jealousy. When Jin had learnt what his younger brother had done, he’d been sure that he would get caught and sent to prison. So he’d helped Shou to gut his home of any evidence and then staged random murders of his own, in an attempt to make it look like a mass murder case, rather than personal targeting.

Caught up in his sick thrills from killing innocent victims, and going insane from the fear of being caught, he’d then murdered his own brother – believing him to be a liability and afraid of the possibility of him spilling his knowledge on the whole case to an outsider.

It was amazing how many of our theories had actually been correct. Affairs, jealous lovers, multiple killers... But there were still a couple of things that Jin was being irritatingly vague about.

For starters, he claimed to have no knowledge of the missing identification from the two most recent female victims. He also wouldn’t give away any details of why he’d decided to come clean and confess to the whole thing. He was afraid – that much was easy to tell. But of what, or who, we had no idea.

The worst part was that Gibson accepted this. As far as he was concerned, we had our Kasagi killer. He didn’t find the missing puzzle pieces to be that pressing as long as the danger was behind bars. That was the difference between being a cop and being a detective. Cops had to think about the safety of civilians and the rest of their force. Detectives just had to solve everything.

Either way, there wasn’t a case left. No matter how many times I’d tried to change Gibson’s mind on it.

“But there’s still something not right – I can feel it,” I’d said.

“I’m sorry, Gee, but we can’t afford to waste the man power on this now that we’ve caught the killer. The case is closed.”

“Well, I’m happy to carry on investigating myself. I am a private detective; I could try and chase up anything extra...”

“No, Gee,” Gibson had interrupted me firmly. “I still don’t like the way this case sits myself, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. I don’t want you trying to follow up anything else to do with this. It’s been dangerous enough.”

“I can do what I like!” I’d protested. “My work is completely independent from the police force!”

“But this case is still under _my_ jurisdiction. And I say it’s closed. You’re forbidden to continue with it – for your own safety. If you do, you’ll be breaching my decision and I won’t hold you above the law for it.”

And that had been it. I couldn’t get him to change his mind, no matter how much I tried. Kenichi and Chad backed him on it too. So I was left to accept that the case was closed for good.

Except I couldn’t. It was true that I couldn’t continue with it now – Gibson had made that perfectly clear. But it didn’t mean I had to be happy about it.

Worse still, I realised that the end of the case meant saying goodbye to L. With the case over, he wouldn’t have a reason to stick around any longer. He didn’t live at the hotel after all. He’d be going back to his home, wherever that was. Maybe his home was in England? He’d mentioned living there before. Oh, man, England was so far away...

Goodbyes generally don’t bother me that much. I’ve always stuck by the belief that if somebody’s worth being in my life, then I’ll end up seeing them again some day. But I knew that with L, it wouldn’t be the same case. He preferred being off the radar. I had a feeling that if I let him go now, then I wasn’t ever going to see him again.

That wasn’t a goodbye I was looking forward to.

By the late afternoon, the others had already left. Even Watari had disappeared somewhere. But I knew that L would still be here and I was going to use the opportunity to talk to him. No matter how much I was dreading it.

He wasn’t in the main room that we’d all been working in, but thanks to the aftermath of the whole Kyo ordeal, I knew which room was his. I went through to the kitchen area, but he wasn’t there either. Where else could he be? I really couldn’t see him being asleep. I guessed I could just knock on the bedroom door to be sure.

“Can I help you?”

I jumped. The voice seemed to have come from nowhere. But then L appeared from behind the door and I sighed. “Dammit, you’ve gotta stop doing that.”

“I actually thought you had already left with the others,” said L.

I bristled. Did he really think I’d just leave without saying goodbye first? “Of course not,” I replied indignantly. “I haven’t spoken to you yet.”

L looked thoughtful. “So you’re saying it’s because of me that you’re still here?”

Oops. I hadn’t meant for it to sound quite like that. I knew it was already obvious what my feelings were after the night where I’d thrown myself at him, but it didn’t make the situation any less embarrassing.

The more I thought about it, the more the colour rushed to my cheeks. “Erm... Well. I didn’t mean...”

Of course, L was oblivious to my embarrassment and didn’t seem to think my stammering was anything out of the ordinary. He still just had the same blank expression that he always did. Only then did I realise that there really was nothing to pursue here. I’d been fearing a tearful goodbye – on my part, obviously, not his – and was on the brink of pouring my heart out... But L just didn’t have a clue. I doubted he’d even understand the extent of what I was thinking.

I’d known from the start that he wasn’t your typical guy, but I’d never quite realised before just how difficult it would be trying to establish something real with him. And I was pretty sure it would only make him uncomfortable if I tried. I didn’t really want to do that.

Maybe walking away now really was the best option. I was never going to get what I wanted out of this.

So, biting my lip and making a decision that hurt to my very core, I held out my hand. “I just wanted to say that it’s been a pleasure working with you.”

He stared at my outstretched hand – well, I assumed he was staring; he’d purposely angled his face so that his eyes were hidden by his untidy hair. He didn’t move or even respond. Was he really not going to allow me just a handshake?

I bit my lip harder and slowly lowered my hand. I guess that showed where I stood. Answer: nowhere significant.

But then, at the last moment, L grabbed my hand before it returned to my side, causing my heart to skip. “I agree,” he said stiffly.

I frowned. Even though I was acutely aware that he was holding my hand, I noticed that his voice sounded strange. Almost not quite as monotonous as it usually was. I stepped forward carefully, attempting to peek under his bangs. “Hey, are you okay?”

He lifted his head very slightly, enough for me to really see his face, and I gasped. His eyes weren’t the empty, onyx mirrors I was used to. They were... burning. There was no other word for it. I’d never seen such raw emotion in his face before and I didn’t know how to react.

“L...” I started nervously.

But I didn’t get any further than that. He suddenly dragged me towards him and grabbed my face with both hands, crashing his lips onto mine.

It felt like an explosion. I’d been dreaming of this for weeks. And now that it was happening, I didn’t ever want it to stop. I kissed him back fiercely, winding my fingers into his hair. It was softer than I’d imagined it would be. And his lips weren’t cold stone like before – they were warm and smooth and moved thrillingly with my own.

My heart felt like it was about to burst. Surely this couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t like him... Wasn’t like him at all. But I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop.

I felt resistance as something solid met my back. I wasn’t even aware that we’d been moving. L’s hands blurred down my body and, without warning, he hoisted me up onto the breakfast bar. The added height was fine with me. I wound my arms around his neck, pulling him even closer, and felt an uncontrollable urge to wrap my legs around his waist... Though I couldn’t. Not yet. It was too soon; I didn’t want to freak him out. The thought was enough to freak _me_ out.

But then I felt his cool hands graze my thighs as they slid up underneath my skirt. He curled his fingers round the waistband of my boxers and I felt my heart splutter when I realised what he was doing. This _really_ couldn’t be happening...

“Are you... Are you sure you want...” I stammered breathlessly, pulling back a little. I was still trying to get my head around this whole thing.

L pressed his body up against me, making me feel hot all over. My stomach was doing somersaults. He brushed his lips against mine. “They say that men taste bitter and women taste sweet... Shall we find out?”

I felt my breathing speed up and made some incoherent noise in response. 

“Was that a no?” I’d never imagined his voice could sound so sexy.

“No. I mean yes... I mean...” I began to feel flustered, unsure how to communicate that I was willing to do whatever he wanted right now.

Thankfully, he understood. “I’m glad to hear it.” With that, he ripped my underwear down my legs.

And then I woke up.

I lay in bed, breathing hard, my eyes still closed. I was sweating and still trembling. You had _got_ to be kidding me...

I sat up abruptly, my head reeling. It was still dark. Of course it was still dark. This was our last night in the hotel. I was leaving tomorrow along with the other police officers.

I ran my hands through my hair, trying to calm myself. A sex dream? _Really_? I never had sex dreams. Hell, I’d never even had sex before. That was probably why the dream had ended so abruptly – my mind didn’t know enough to fill in the blanks any further than that.

I let out a loud groan of frustration and fell back onto the bed. Well, whatever kind of goodbye I got tomorrow, it was definitely going to be a letdown after that.

**XXX**

I was woken up the following day by somebody knocking on my door. It took them several attempts for me to realise what the noise was. I glared at the door before reminding myself that nobody would be able to see me.

“Hang on a sec,” I called, reluctantly dragging myself out of bed.

I really need some proper pyjamas, I told myself, as I looked round the room for something decent I could throw on. Or a robe. That would be much better. As it was, I had to settle for using my trench coat to cover up.

It was Gibson at the door. “Morning, Gee,” he greeted brightly. “We didn’t really want to wake you, but I thought I’d best let you know that the rest of us are heading back to the police station. Ryuzaki and Watari are still here, so you won’t be on your own.”

Of course they were still here. Urgh. I had a feeling that the goodbye scene today wasn’t going to be anywhere near as fun as the one last night... Oh, shut up, Gee; it wasn’t even real!

I rubbed my eyes blearily, trying more to clear my mind of sleep rather than my actual eyes. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost twelve o’clock. So you can’t knock me for disturbing you at an indecent hour,” Gibson teased.

I’d nearly slept till midday? I never slept that late! That damn dream had thrown me all out of whack. I realised then that Gibson was still talking, so I made a conscious effort to pay attention and listen.

“So I just thought I’d let you know, but I’ll speak to you tomorrow anyway.”

“Tomorrow?” I repeated confusedly. But the case was closed – I probably wouldn’t see him again for a while. Until I needed him to throw me another bone (i.e. spare case).

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten your own birthday,” Gibson tutted.

“Hey, I’m still half asleep; leave me alone,” I protested.

I hadn’t technically forgotten; I’d just lost track of the days a bit. Most people would probably find it a fantastic coincidence to finish work just before their birthday. Personally, I’d rather be working. It wasn’t like I’d be doing anything for it – it fell on a Monday, so all of my friends would be working anyway.

Gibson just laughed. Sometimes he knew exactly how my mind worked and he clearly knew what I was thinking right now. “At least _try_ to enjoy it, okay? I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

After Gibson left, I wasn’t really sure what to do. I wanted to prolong having to say goodbye to L, but there wasn’t really much for me to do in here. I ended up beginning to collect my stuff together, deliberately being slow about it.

My cell phone rang whilst I was sorting through clothes. It was Johnny. “Hey, are you gonna be home any time soon? I thought you said your case was finished.”

“Why; are you at my place?” I asked, surprised.

“Duh,” was Johnny’s response.

“Stalker,” I replied.

I’d actually given him my spare set of keys ages ago as a kind of emergency preparation, just in case I ever needed something from home but couldn’t get there myself. Of course, Johnny had always taken advantage of it. I hadn’t expected him to be waiting for me though when I’d only just been given the okay to go back there. It had been a crime scene just the other week.

“You need to come home. You have, like, next to no food in,” Johnny informed me, sounding disappointed.

“Yeah, numbskull, that’s because I haven’t been there for the last few weeks,” I reminded him.

“You’re grumpy today,” Johnny observed. “Are you PMSing?”

I rolled my eyes to myself. “Do you ask that every time somebody’s in a bad mood?”

“Only to the girls, obviously,” replied Johnny.

“Guys have man periods too,” I insisted.

“Now that’s just ridiculous...” We bantered for a little while longer before Johnny came back to his original point. “So when are you gonna be home?”

“Wow, you clearly have nothing better to do on a Sunday,” I muttered. “I’ve gotta finish packing my stuff and I have something else I need to take care of... but then I should be good to leave.”

I didn’t really want to be rushed into this, but maybe a good kick up the butt was what I needed. Otherwise I was probably going to spend all day avoiding talking to L. Plus actually coming home to someone for once sounded kinda nice.

“Well, you’d best hurry or else I’m going to eat the present I made for you,” Johnny warned.

“Hey, no fair!” I protested.

Johnny laughed. “Then hurry up and you won’t have to worry.” He hung up.

“Moron,” I muttered at the phone, though I was quite excited. Surprisingly, Johnny was actually a really good cook. He was just usually too lazy to do the actual cooking part. Whatever he’d made for me was going to be good.

But it meant that I now had no choice but to go and talk to L. I’d exaggerated to Johnny – the packing was only going to take me all of a few minutes. I sighed. Might as well get it over and done with. Then maybe I could try and start thinking about looking ahead.

My dream was clearly still weighing on my mind, because I’d expected L to be in the kitchen attached to his room. But nope, I found both him and Watari in the main room we’d all been working in, as I lugged my suitcase out of my room. L was working at his laptop and Watari was stood opposite him, simply surveying the room. I wondered how much of his time he spent standing.

“Last one to leave?” Watari asked good-naturedly.

I nodded, dumping my suitcase by the door. “It’s gotta be a first.” I glanced over at L, feeling awkward and trying as hard as I could not to think about my dream. “But I guess I’m all ready to go now,” I said a little more loudly.

My words had their desired effect and L finally looked up from his laptop. “Ah, yes, I see...” He pushed his laptop away as he climbed down from his seat and paced over to me. I braced myself, not sure what was going to happen... Then he held out his hand. “Thank you for your help – you’ve been of great assistance in solving this case.”

I’d been holding my breath and realised that I’d actually been waiting for him to carry on speaking. But that was it. I don’t know what I’d been expecting. Something more emotional? Or something similar to the passionate scene I’d dreamt last night?

Who was I kidding? L’s expression was completely neutral, as always. He had nothing else to add and he certainly didn’t have a clue as to the feelings raging inside my mind. This was just business to him – another case over and done with. I wasn’t even a friend worth keeping in contact with.

Just like that, everything fizzled inside me. I didn’t feel upset or angry... I didn’t really feel anything. I felt just as blank as L always looked. I was never going to get anything more from him, so what was the point of even trying?

I dutifully shook his hand. “Thank you also for the opportunity. It’s been a pleasure working with you.” The words left a bitter taste in my mouth – too similar to the ones I’d spoken in my dream... The rest of which certainly wasn’t going to be re-enacted. “Good luck on your future cases.”

I gave Watari a polite bow, which he respectfully returned, and picked up my suitcase once more. L didn’t say anymore; let alone try to stop me. I walked out of the door, knowing I wasn’t going to see him again.

I was so glad I had Johnny waiting for me at home. If I’d had to go back with all my stuff to an empty apartment, I strongly believed I would have burst into tears. As it was, I put on a brave face. I was definitely happy to see my best friend – I hadn’t actually seen him since our night out with the whole pancakes fiasco.

“Hey, sweetie,” Johnny greeted me when I got upstairs, pulling me into a hug and causing me to drop my suitcase. “Bet you’re glad you finished in time for your birthday!”

“Something like that,” I said casually, not really wanting to linger anymore on the fact that the best case of my life had ended. “It’s not like I’ll really be doing much for it.”

Johnny looked sympathetic. “I’m sorry, Gee. I actually tried to get off work, but they want me to do the open tomorrow and...”

“Don’t be silly,” I interrupted, waving his comment away. “I already knew you guys would be working anyway. And I don’t mind – I can just chill out here.”

Johnny’s expression still looked odd. “Do you want me to help you unpack?” He gestured towards my suitcase on the floor.

I frowned. “Sorry, I don’t think I heard you correctly...” It was very unlike Johnny to offer to do manual labour. And it wasn’t even my birthday yet. “How come you’re being so nice?”

“You make it sound like such a bad thing!” Johnny smiled, but then he hesitated. “Seriously, Gee, have you not seen the look on your face? You look like your whole world’s just fell apart.”

“I...” For once, I was stumped into silence. So much for my brave face. That or my best friend just knew me too well. Both options were quite likely.

His sympathetic look returned. “I’m guessing things didn’t work out so well with that other detective?”

I hung my head, gazing down at the floor. “I guess you could say that.”

There was an awkward silence before Johnny announced in a faux cheery voice, “Well, luckily, I have stuff to cheer you up!” I knew he felt uncomfortable. He didn’t know how to deal with love troubles – the guy had always had the upper hand in all of his past relationships. Lucky bastard.

His attempt still made me feel better though. And I was definitely curious about this so-called edible present he’d apparently made for me. I smiled. “Colour me intrigued.”

Johnny grinned. “Then right this way, ma’am!” He made me follow him through to the kitchen area and made a show of opening the fridge like it was the door to Narnia. “Ta-daa!”

I stared. “Please tell me that’s what I think it is.”

“Yep. One pineapple upside down cake – just for you,” said Johnny proudly.

“You are without a doubt the greatest man that ever lived,” I said solemnly.

“Say what you like; I’m still not turning straight for you.”

“Very funny.” I playfully punched his shoulder. “So are you trying to fatten me up or something? I know you won’t want any of this yourself.” As hard as it was to believe, Johnny actually hated pineapple. That was blasphemy in my books.

“Of course not! It’s your birthday; you’re allowed to be naughty,” Johnny grinned again and winked at me. “Besides, that’s not all you’re getting. You also have a substantially large pile of presents waiting for you in your room.”

“Presents?” I repeated. A substantially large pile? Just how much had he gotten me?

Thankfully, Johnny explained. “Everyone knew you’d probably be working on your birthday so they sent everything to me to look after, since I’m the one who sees you most,” said Johnny smugly. “So now I’m just playing Birthday Claus.”

I felt my face break into a smile. Everyone knew me so well. It was just a shame that the tables had turned and I was the only one _not_ working tomorrow. “Thanks, Johnny. You’re the best.”

Johnny gave me a mock bow. “I’m here to serve... But only until your birthday’s over; then I’m allowed to pick on you again.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll take what I can get! So do you fancy sticking around for a while today, since I won’t get to see you tomorrow?”

“Honey, why do you think I’m still here?” he said pointedly. “I even brought my nail polish!”

I groaned. I guessed I wasn’t going to get a choice in the matter this time. To be honest, my ability to choose anything had kinda disappeared from the moment I’d seen the pineapple upside cake.

“Fine,” I sighed. “But can I moan about guys while you work?”

“Well, what else would we talk about?”

**XXX**

It was quite miserable after Johnny left that evening. And it wasn’t just because I now had violently pink nails. _Why_ had he only brought pink with him? I didn’t even own anything pink.

Ranting to Johnny about how oh so unfair my love life was had actually made me feel a lot better. But now that he’d gone, I was left to myself with just those lingering thoughts about L for company.

I couldn’t seem to get past the idea that I wasn’t going to see him again. I knew the connection I’d felt had clearly only been one-sided, but that didn’t change the fact that I was still going to miss him like hell. That part didn’t matter whether he’d been interested or not.

I wasn’t in the mood for reading or watching anything... Or even writing, which was usually my last resort to battle boredom. I didn’t actually feel like doing anything. These thoughts weren’t going to go away any time soon, so what was the use in trying to fight them?

I ended up settling down on the couch with my iPod and a hefty slab of pineapple upside down cake. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d just chilled out and listened to music. The idea was suddenly very appealing.

I slowly worked my way through the cake, only half listening to the music playing in my ears. But then when I’d finished it, I had nothing else to concentrate on and I ended up giving every lyric my full attention.

“ _I know, you know that I’m not telling the truth. I know, you know they just don’t have any proof. Embrace the deception, learn how to bend. Your worst inhibition’s gonna psych you out in the end._ ”

I frowned. Normally, the Psych theme tune would put me in a good mood – even though I’d seriously overplayed it in the past – but right now, the lyrics just reminded me too much of L. The whole concept sounded very much like how my relationship with him had been. I quickly hit the next button before I could hear anymore.

“ _Dear, my love, haven’t you wanted to be with me? And dear, my love, haven’t you wanted to be free? I can’t keep pretending that I don’t even know you. And at sweet night you are my own..._ ”

My frown deepened. This just reminded me of him too. I skipped onto the next song... But that seemed all too relevant as well. And it was the same thing with the next song... And the next...

I scowled. Was my iPod doing this on purpose? I jabbed my thumb onto the forward button even harder and “Dancing Queen” by crazy Swedish band Abba started playing (don’t ask; my auntie Maggie got me onto them). I suddenly snorted with laughter – I sure hoped _that_ wasn’t relevant to L.

I realised then that I was being an idiot. There was no use in moping around like this. I could find a way to relate every tiny little thing back to L if I wanted to. Subconsciously, I clearly _did_ want to. So I was thinking about him... So what? That was only natural. I’d get past it eventually – I just had to stay strong.

I felt a little more positive after my mini epiphany, but nevertheless, I still put my iPod away. I left my empty plate in the kitchen sink and went to sort through my DVDs. I felt I deserved a good old horror movie marathon. I was going to snuggle up in bed with my wolves and some hazelnut hot chocolate.

I’d even eat the entire pineapple upside down cake if I felt like it.

**XXX**

Considering everything that had happened, I slept surprisingly soundly. When I woke up, I couldn’t even remember what I’d dreamt – sexual or otherwise. Maybe cake and hot chocolate before bed was a good solution for inducing sleep. I quickly dismissed the idea as soon as I thought of it. If that was the case, then I was pretty sure that L wouldn’t be an insomniac.

L... There I went again. I’d been awake for all of two minutes and I was already thinking about him. I sighed, trying to remind myself what I’d concluded last night. There was nothing wrong with thinking about him – I just couldn’t let it get to me.

Easier said than done.

I didn’t really want to lie in bed just thinking, so I soon got up and hit the shower. I felt at a bit of a loss once I was dried and dressed – once again I wasn’t used to not working and not having anything to do – so I went to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

I eyed the pineapple upside down cake for a little while, but figured I should at least _try_ to start the day with something a bit more healthy. So I settled for toast instead. Thankfully, I did have one thing I could do today. I’d remembered the pile of presents sat in the corner of my room, protected by my giant white wolf Moro – the only one who was too big to fit on my bed; poor thing.

So once I’d eaten, I moved all of the presents to my lounge to start opening them. I could have just opened them in my room, but I knew that if I got lazy with clearing up afterwards, I’d be annoyed if I wanted to go to bed and it was still covered in wrapping paper. I’d learnt that from last year.

Present opening definitely made me feel a lot happier. I’d had a pretty good haul. More books and horror movies from the twins, clothes and sweets and a replacement of my NYC perfume (the one that I’d killed after the whole fire trauma) from my mom and auntie Maggie, a brand new perfume from Johnny that was very aptly called Super G... It smelled super sweet too.

I hate to admit it, but I actually squealed when I got to Masami’s present – Psych style pineapple slippers and the green robe to go with it. Which was actually kinda spooky, since I’d just been thinking yesterday about how I could have done with a robe. Pineapples were clearly a recurring theme for this birthday – not that I was complaining – because my old university friend Emiiya had gotten me a pineapple print dress. It was totally cute and it was a nice pastel shade of green. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but green is my favourite colour.

Even the police officers had clearly been conferring with Johnny without my knowledge. I had a big bottle of vodka from Chad and Kenichi – we’d see how long that lasted now that I was out of work again – and Gibson had bought me a new cuddly white wolf to add to my collection, which I immediately dubbed Kiba (I’d been waiting for ages to use that one).

When I was down to the last two presents, I heard the doorbell ring from downstairs. It wasn’t very loud up here, but I’d always attuned my hearing for it in case I missed out on a potential client. My heart skipped. Did I have a new case already? Best birthday present ever!

I leapt up from the couch, grabbed my keys and dashed downstairs. I fumbled to unlock the door from the stairs to my office and then the front door that led outside. It was still boarded up from the break-in, but I could see a silhouette through the blinds cloaking the windows. My slowness hadn’t deterred my visitor, thankfully.

I was a little disappointed to find that it was only the mailman. But of course, that feeling soon disappeared when I saw the package he was carrying. Another present, yay.

“Morning,” he greeted. “Sorry if I disturbed you – this one was a little too big to fit through the letter box.”

“No problem,” I reassured, taking the package from him. “Thanks a lot!”

I shut the door after him, curiously looking the package over. There was a label stuck to the side saying that it was fragile, so I made sure I handled it carefully. I was too intrigued to wait until I was upstairs to open it, so I sank into my desk chair in the office instead.

Inside the package was an ornate perfume bottle made of silver and midnight blue glass. The bottle was empty, but it looked like the glass had been hand-blown. It was stoppered with a rubber cork, topped with a very intricate glass model of a wolf in mid-howl. I stared at it in amazement. It was beautiful – the most delicate thing I’d ever seen.

I checked the card that was tied to the neck of the bottle. It was signed with three swooping letters in familiar scrawl. I felt my heart lurch. What was he _doing_ sending me something like this? What was he doing sending me anything at all?

I jumped to my feet and tore the card off, throwing it into the wastepaper bin in the corner. As much as I wanted to throw the perfume bottle in there with it, I just couldn’t condone damaging something so beautiful. 

I reluctantly took the bottle back upstairs and left it on the sideboard in the lounge. I’d deal with the thoughts that came with that one later. I grabbed my two unopened presents, as well as my iPhone, and went back downstairs. Now that I’d unlocked, I figured I may as well stay in the office for a bit. I didn’t want to miss out on any potential clients just because it was my birthday.

I sat back down at my desk with my remaining presents. The one was quite heavy, considering the small size of the box, and it didn’t have a card with it. I recognised my grandpa’s handwriting on the other and smiled. My grandpa’s presents were always a challenge.

I went for that one first and pulled all the wrapping paper off. It was a broken clock – the face had been smashed in what looked like a very untidy ‘X’ shape. I guessed it was intentional, but it still looked like some kind of omen out of a bad horror movie.

“Very morbid, old man,” I muttered to myself. I had to admit I had no clue what this one was about.

I pushed it aside for now and had just picked up the final present when the doorbell rang again. Wow, I felt popular today. I got up once more, setting the present back down on the desk, and went to answer the door. It was L who was stood outside.

I don’t know what I was more surprised about – the fact that L was on my doorstep or that he’d actually used the doorbell. Of course, the latter won out.

“You used the doorbell,” I said, dumbfounded.

“Well, you did keep telling me to,” he replied in his usual toneless voice. “Are you saying you’ve changed your mind?”

I felt the same stab of frustration that I always seemed to get when I was talking to him, despite how dazed I was to see him. “No, I just mean... What are you _doing_ here?”

“I’ve been led to believe that it’s your birthday, so... happy birthday.” He handed me a video tape.

I stared at it. I could only think of one possible reason why a guy would give a girl a video tape. “What is it?” I asked nervously.

“All of the interviews collected from the Kasagi killer case,” explained L. Oh. Goddamn, I really had developed a one-track mind since last night. “Which brings me to my next point of why I’m here... I know you believe that this case isn’t over yet. And I agree.”

My heart did a happy leap. It _wasn’t_ over. L wasn’t going anywhere just yet. “So why didn’t you just say so yesterday?” It could have saved me a whole lot of grief, though obviously, I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“Just a precaution,” said L. “I’m assuming now that Mr. Gibson has officially closed the case, you won’t be seeing him quite as much. I wasn’t sure if you’d be returning to the police station with him yesterday and I didn’t want to risk him figuring out that you were up to something.

As much as I hated to admit it, it did make sense. Keeping me in the dark was the easiest option. “So we’re going to continue investigating in secret?”

I felt a tiny thrill at that, despite how going off on vigilante missions had already gotten me into a lot of trouble. The only reason I’d been let off the hook for the last stunt of returning to a banned crime scene was because I’d actually caught the killer in the process. Well... Supposed killer. I still refused to believe that Jin Tanaka was the only enemy here.

“Yes, we will,” replied L.

It seemed to take my brain a little while to catch up and realise that it was now going to be just me and L working on our own. Together.

I’d been wrong. _This_ was the best birthday present ever.


	14. Catching A Break

I did eventually let L inside, after I was sure that he wasn’t going to disappear if I closed my eyes. I needed to get a grip – he was here, that was good and everything... But now I had to try and be professional.

Though it’s kinda hard to be professional when there’s bright green wrapping paper decorated with cartoon caterpillars and ladybugs on your floor. Damn it, old man.

“I hope I’m not interrupting you,” said L, casting his blank gaze over the childish wrapping paper.

“No, it’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting company,” I replied hastily, grabbing the paper from the floor and scrunching it up. I tossed it into the wastepaper bin in the corner in one shot. Score.

Unfortunately, L’s attention was on my desk and he hadn’t seen my awesome sport skills. I don’t think he’d even heard what I’d said. “Who sent you that?” He indicated the broken clock.

“My grandpa,” I said. I still had to try and figure that one out.

“Is your grandfather of British heritage?” he asked.

“No, he’s Japanese,” I answered, feeling totally lost. “Why?”

“Because it’s a bad omen to give a clock as a gift,” explained L. “The superstition originates from China, because their word for clock is similar to the word for death. I thought that maybe if your grandfather wasn’t of Asian descent, then that would explain his ignorance.”

I just stared at him. “How did you even know that?”

“Just trivia that I’ve picked up,” replied L.

In my mind, that was not trivia. Trivia was knowing the capital of Denmark or the actor who played Blane in Pretty In Pink. Okay, the last one probably wasn’t a very good example – I was totally biased on that. Andrew McCarthy is _amazing_.

But either way, that was definitely the answer I’d been looking for. There was no doubt about it.

“Have I ever told you you’re amazing?” I said, going for my iPhone so that I could text my grandpa.

“I can’t say that you have,” replied L, neither flattered nor embarrassed by my comment. “Is there any particular reason for that opinion?”

“Because you just gave me the answer that I needed. My grandpa has a long-running tradition of sending me odd gifts,” I explained. “If I can figure out the meaning behind them, then I get the real present that he’s gotten for me. If I can’t do it, then he keeps it until next year.”

“This probably would have been quite straightforward if you’d looked it up online,” L pointed out.

“I’m not allowed to use the internet; that’s one of the rules,” I told him. “I have to work it out the old-fashioned way – either through traditional research or by word of mouth.”

“But how does he know that you wouldn’t cheat?”

“Because I don’t cheat,” I said simply, which was the truth. “Cheating just negates the whole challenge. There’s no fun in it. And my grandpa thinks the same way.”

“Your grandfather sounds like an interesting person,” commented L. I was sure that that must be a genuine compliment coming from him and I appreciated it.

“He’s the most interesting person I know,” I agreed. “He’s a great storyteller and totally eccentric. My mom says that’s where I get all my weird quirks from.”

L just ignored my comment. Instead, he pointed to my desk and said, “You have a gift left.”

“Err, yeah, I do,” I agreed, a little thrown by the abrupt change in subject. 

He clearly didn’t want to compliment _me_ as well as my grandfather. The thought made me a little miffed. It was my birthday – the one day that people were supposed to be extra nice to me. Though I guessed maybe that was a stretch for L.

Okay, I wasn’t saying he _wasn't_ nice. He just wasn't really anything.

I realised then that he was still watching me and that he’d probably been saying something. I’d gone into another mini zombie trance, so of course, I hadn’t heard anything. “Sorry, what?”

“Aren’t you going to open it? I wouldn’t want to have interrupted you.”

“Oh, no, it’s okay,” I said. The remaining present was the one with no card attached. I didn’t really want a repeat of the whole perfume bottle incident in front of L. But then there wasn’t really anyone else from my past who could provoke quite the same reaction.

“Some cultures would consider it rude to leave a gift unopened,” L continued in his usual monotonous voice.

I frowned at him. Geez, I’d forgotten how irritating he could be. I resisted the urge to complain ‘who are you, my mother?’ “Fine, I’ll open it!”

I picked up the small yet heavy package and tore the wrapping away to reveal an ordinary, unmarked cardboard box. I dug my fingers into the corners and pulled one of the flaps back. Inside was a very small, but very real gun.

I almost dropped the box in surprise. I managed to slowly set it down on the table and carefully picked the gun out. It really was tiny – I could fit the entire thing into my palm. I couldn’t think of anyone who would send me a _gun_ as a present.

“Do you know who it’s from?” L asked, completely casual.

“Nope. There was no card,” I replied, my mind still boggling. I tested the weight of the gun. “It’s a Seecamps Autoloader. A .32 millimetre, from the looks of it.” Some detective I was – I couldn’t even figure out who had sent me a birthday present. But then I guess it wasn’t really your everyday birthday present.

“It’s real,” said L suddenly.

“Well, no shit, Sherlock,” I replied, bemused. What did he expect? “What; did you think it was a toy or something?”

“It just seems very unusual for you to be sent a gun as a gift,” said L. He then added, “And I can’t say I’ve ever really cared for Sherlock Holmes.”

That was certainly enough to push the gun mystery out of my head. “Hang on, what? You _don’t_ like Sherlock Holmes?”

“No, not particularly,” said L offhandedly, completely unaware of my outrage. “In general, I’m not really a fan of fictional detectives. The writers themselves are only writers, after all – they write detective fiction based on assumption, not actual experience.”

I just gawked at him. Wow, we really were complete opposites. When I found my tongue, I managed to say, “If you start hating on Psych, then I’m not going to be your friend anymore.”

“You think we’re friends?” asked L, seeming mildly surprised.

I faltered again, though this time because it stung a little. The words sounded condescending, even though his tone was as empty as ever. “Err, you don’t?”

“I guess I haven’t thought about it much. I’ve never really had friends before.”

I couldn’t help but stare at him. He didn’t look bothered by what he’d just admitted – if anything he looked thoughtful. But again, it was the words that seemed to hold more meaning than anything else. I had to seriously resist the urge to give him a hug.

Though I reminded myself that just because it was my birthday, it probably wouldn’t stop him from drop-kicking me if he decided he didn’t want any physical contact.

“Well, I see you as a friend,” I said awkwardly. I felt stupid even saying it.

As usual, L’s face didn’t give anything away. “Why, thank you.” And, as usual, he swiftly changed the subject. “So you really don’t know who might have sent you a gun in the mail?”

I fought the urge to sigh. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. L usually moved the conversation along if it started to sway towards being too personal. “Your guess is as good as mine,” I said with a shrug. “Clearly somebody not very smart though. This could have easily fallen into the wrong hands.”

I put the Seecamps back into the box for now. I was actually itching to go and try it out. Trigger-happy, who, me? But I knew I’d have to get a few things sorted first – I was only licensed to carry my Browning.

“Well, either way, it’s not that important right now. We already have a much bigger mystery on our hands,” I continued. “So are we gonna go and get stuck in?”

“Lead the way,” prompted L.

So I spent the afternoon perusing the case videos with L. I couldn’t have asked for anything better... Except maybe some results. No matter how many times we watched the interviews and went over all the facts, nothing important leapt out at us. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised seeing as that was how the entire case had been going.

We worked for a good few hours before we were interrupted by the distant sound of the doorbell downstairs. Man, the one day of the year that I was ever popular.

“Erm, I’m just gonna go get that,” I said awkwardly, getting up. It felt weird to be leaving L alone in my apartment, even if it was only for a few minutes.

“It’s not a problem,” replied L, not even looking up from the papers he was reading. “Please carry on.”

Even so, I still hurried. Just the knowledge that it was only going to be me and L working alone together until this case was finished was enough to make me feel more on edge. My head was rattling with questions that I was a little too afraid to ask. Was he still staying at the hotel? Did he need somewhere new to stay? What had happened to Watari? Was it _really_ just the two of us now?

I tried to push it all to the back of my mind as I unlocked the front door. Having all this crap in my head really wasn’t going to help with anything. Thankfully, my visitor was enough to distract me for now. 

“Kalispera, Miss Georgia! Hronia polla!”

It was my next door neighbour, Sophia. She’s an unusual combination of Japanese and Greek and she lives above a small deli that she owns herself. I’m pretty sure she’s into her sixties now, but she’s still as batty and lively as ever. And she harasses me about guys even more than Masami does.

“Efkharisto, kalispera,” I replied with a smile. Greek wasn’t a language I was fluent in, but she’d taught me enough to be able to say ‘thank you’ and ‘good afternoon’. As well as a few curse words, but they weren’t really relevant right now.

“I brought some gifts for you,” she beamed, holding up a metal tin with a wrapped present on top of it. She’s always had a strong Greek accent and slips into the language at times, but her Japanese is still flawless. “What is it now, twenty-three? Twenty-four?”

“Twenty-four. But you really shouldn’t have worried about it,” I said, pleasantly surprised that she still remembered every year. I hesitated for a few seconds before asking, “Would you like to come in for a drink?”

I felt I couldn’t _not_ offer, especially after she’d gone out of her way to get me birthday presents. Plus I always invited her inside when she visited, so it would look weird if I didn’t do that now. I’d just have to hope that she left L alone.

“Oooh, you know I’d never say no to some of your hot chocolate,” Sophia grinned.

I smiled back in response. Masami had smuggled out some of the Starbucks hazelnut hot chocolate mix for me a while back. Sophia had just as keen a taste for it as I did. Thankfully, I still had a substantial amount of it left.

“I thought you’d say that. I have pineapple upside down cake too,” I remembered out loud. “I have company inside at the moment though – I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all!” Sophia insisted as she followed me inside. I locked the front door again behind her. “It’s your birthday – you can celebrate it how you want.”

“Well, it’s more working than celebrating,” I confessed as I led her upstairs.

Sophia shook her head dramatically. “Always working, Miss Georgia. You don’t ever leave yourself time for fun.”

I didn’t bother pointing out that for me work _was_ fun. I’d already tried that before and she’d just scoffed at me. We got upstairs to the apartment and as soon as L saw that I had a visitor, he quickly but smoothly tidied the papers away. Nice move. I guess he wouldn’t have known whether Sophia could be trusted or not if she accidentally happened upon any information relating to the case.

“Erm, this is my neighbour Sophia,” I introduced, feeling a little uncomfortable. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about L meeting any of my friends. I wished I could have started him with someone a little less bonkers. Kay or Laura perhaps. “Sophia, this is my... colleague, Ryuzaki.” 

I couldn’t tell whether it was the name or the title that I stumbled over, but either way, Sophia still noticed. Goddamn.

“Colleague, you say? Are you sure you don’t mean boyfriend?” Sophia teased, shooting L a knowing look and then winking to top it off. I just about died on the spot.

“Wait, no!” I began to protest. “That’s not what I...”

Of course, Sophia just ignored me and continued on. “You know quite a lot of men in your work, Miss Georgia.” She moved nearer to L, making a show of scrutinising him closer. “So what do you like about this one? Why are you singling him out and not inviting your other police friends round?”

“I’m not singling anyone out!” I insisted. I didn’t even want to look at L – this was far too embarrassing. “The case we’re working on is separate from the police.”

“Of course it is,” said Sophia in a way that suggested she didn’t believe me for a second.

“Actually, Gee didn’t invite me. It was my idea to come here today,” corrected L. 

I was surprised that he seemed to be sticking up for me. Sophia seemed surprised that he’d spoken up at all. I chanced a look at him and saw that he didn’t seem particularly bothered by Sophia’s comments. His expression was as blank as always. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign.

“You came for her birthday, did you?” Sophia asked knowingly. “You look a little rough around the edges, but I’m sure you scrub up nice,” she told him in what she probably thought was a friendly manner.

That at least seemed to provoke a reaction from him. “Rough around the edges?” he repeated slowly.

I had to choke back a laugh. If you ever wanted someone to say something to you straight, then Sophia was your woman. She’d called me scruffy more times than I cared to count – it was nice seeing somebody else on the end of it for a change. But seeing as L was sort of on my side in this, I decided to jump in and rescue him.

“So did you still want cake and hot chocolate, Sophia?” I asked loudly.

That was enough to distract her. “Oh, parakaló, of course!” she remembered, proceeding to bustle over towards the kitchen area to help me. Ever the good hostess. I wish I could say the same – I often forgot to feed myself, let alone anyone else.

“What about you, Mr. Rough-around-the-edges?” I asked L teasingly. “Cake and hot chocolate?”

“Yes, thank you,” replied L monotonously.

I went and rescued the pineapple upside down cake from the fridge, after reminding Sophia where the hot chocolate mix was. She bustled about making it herself. She did this every time she came round. I swear the woman didn’t trust me with anything as obviously dangerous as a kettle. Whilst she was busy, I cut three slices from the cake and took them over to the table where L was still sitting.

“You sit down, Miss Georgia,” Sophia called from the kitchen area. “It is your birthday. I’ll worry about this.”

“Thanks, Sophia,” I said gratefully. I often spent birthdays working by myself, so today had just been a series of pleasant surprises. I took up a seat next to L. “Sorry about this,” I said quietly. “I hope this won’t interrupt our work too much.”

“It’s quite alright,” said L. “As she said, it’s your birthday. You should be allowed to enjoy it.”

“And I am,” I smiled. “I appreciate you coming down here today by the way.”

“You appreciate it even though it means you’ve been working on your birthday?”

“Hey, I can’t think of a better way to spend it,” I said truthfully. “Working’s my favourite way to pass the time, so I don’t think I could ask for a better birthday activity.”

“So that would have been your birthday wish all along?” said L.

“Probably something like that,” I laughed. “I’m not the most creative with birthday wishes.”

“What _would_ you wish for if you could have anything?” L asked.

I stopped and just looked at him. It was quite a personal question, especially coming from L – the world’s worst at real conversation. And what _would_ I wish for if I could be granted anything I wanted? Part of me very much wanted to say that I’d quite like to jump over the table at him, but obviously, I was never going to say that in a million years.

Plus in my life, work _always_ came before my love life. My cases were just always that much more important. Solving this one in particular would probably be the best thing that I could ask for. And I remembered L saying that when a case went well, it was one of the few things that actually made him smile. That was definitely something I’d like to see again.

“To make more progress on this case,” I decided. “To finally solve it all and give the victims’ friends and families the peace of mind they deserve.” I hesitated before adding with a grin, “And to make us feel awesome, of course.”

L watched me for what felt like a very long time before responding. “Good answer.” The barest ghost of a smile crossed his face and that was enough to make me happy.

But of course, I still had a crazy neighbour around that I’d almost forgotten about. “Here we go!” she suddenly announced, breaking the atmosphere as she clattered over carrying three mugs. I call that a gift – I can’t carry more than one in each hand at a time.

“Thank you,” said L graciously, as she passed one across the table to him.

Sophia handed another mug to me and then held her own one up in the air. “A toast,” she said cheekily. “To Miss Georgia’s birthday.”

“Err...”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I’d never been toasted before and certainly not by a guy I liked. But L dutifully held up his mug too and repeated Sophia’s words. It was enough to make me pink in the face. I hurriedly busied myself with taking a large swig of hot chocolate and almost burnt the roof of my mouth.

“So, Ryuzaki, was it?” Sophia addressed L. Oh god, here we go again...

“That’s right,” said L.

“Tell me, what do you think of Miss Georgia?”

“Sophia!” I protested. “I’ve told you already he’s just a colleague.” I shouldn’t really have been surprised – she did this with every single guy I knew. She’d even done it with Johnny. I don’t know which of us had been more appalled by the idea.

“Just that one question, then I’ll stop,” Sophia promised me with an innocent look, her accent becoming even more pronounced. I sighed and mumbled something inaudible. I wasn’t sure that there really was any way of stopping her.

Annoyingly, L actually seemed willing to oblige. “I suppose she’s quite charming in her own way,” he said.

“Oh, thanks,” I said sarcastically. Talk about a back-handed compliment.

L ignored me and continued to speak to Sophia as if I wasn’t there. “But she is a good detective, despite what she thinks. She’s hard-working and she always seems to put others before herself.”

That was enough to shut me up. Was that really a _genuine_ compliment? I think it was. So of course, I felt myself flush even darker than I had done before. Well, hell.

Sophia seemed quite pleased with his answer. “I couldn’t agree more.” She then turned back to me briskly. “So Miss Georgia, are you ever going to open these?” She pushed the presents she’d brought with her across the table.

“Oh, err, yeah sure!” I said, still a little thrown off guard. I pulled them towards me and prised the lid off the tin first. Inside was a batch of hand-baked biscuits. I grinned – Johnny wasn’t the only one I knew who was a good cook. “Ahh, thanks, Sophia! You know I can’t resist your cooking!”

“Nobody can,” Sophia grinned back. “Now open the other one!”

I obligingly picked up the wrapped present. She seemed a lot more excited about this one. It was slim and rectangular. Judging from the size and shape, it was easy to tell that it was a book. Most people knew that books were one of the best presents to get me. Though Sophia clearly had other intentions. When I pulled the wrapping paper off, I found that it wasn’t just any book... It was a kama sutra. I almost choked on my hot chocolate.

“Sophia, what the hell!” I spluttered.

“What is it?” asked L, craning to get a better look.

“Nothing!” I insisted quickly, grabbing it and sliding it out of view onto my lap. Sure, he’d had no interest in seeing the biscuits... but _this_ he wanted to see?

Sophia laughed. “I thought you could experiment a little in your free time.” She then pointedly inclined her head towards L. “Maybe your friend will volunteer to help.”

“No way!” I protested, feeling myself going red again. No one else had the ability to do that to me so much.

Sophia just laughed even more. “Well, I’m sure it’s your loss, Miss Georgia. At least you have it for if you change your mind.”

Urgh, could this get anymore embarrassing? “Well, thanks... I guess,” I said reluctantly, not wanting to seem ungrateful – even though I knew that the moment she left, the book was most definitely going to be either disposed of or hidden away forever.

“Oh, parakaló,” said Sophia, seeming pleased. She finally made a start on her piece of cake, which had been forgotten amidst the present opening. “Mmmm, this is amazing!”

“I agree,” added L. He didn’t usually volunteer his opinion, so it showed just how damn good this cake was. It was safe to say that most of L’s slice was already gone.

“Johnny made it for me,” I said proudly. “I’m actually glad you’re here – I was worried I was going to have to eat it all myself.”

“If he’s ever bored, then send him my way,” Sophia suggested.

I laughed. “He doesn’t really cook much, as diabolical as that sounds. He’s too lazy half the time.”

“A shame,” said Sophia dramatically. “All that talent gone to waste.”

Sophia and I chattered more as we ate and drank. Unsurprisingly, L remained silent for the most part – probably preferring to observe us like we were some kind of foreign species. I really couldn’t have imagined more unusual company. I couldn’t tell if the atmosphere was awkward or quite homely.

Sophia didn’t stay much longer, which I was grateful for. As nice as it always was to see her, I felt bad that our work had been interrupted after I’d already committed myself to it. “I’ll come and let you out,” I said when she announced that she was leaving. After she’d insisted on clearing away the empty mugs and plates for me.

“It was nice meeting you, Ryuzaki,” Sophia told L. “Don’t let Miss Georgia work you too hard.”

I rolled my eyes behind her back, which seemed to earn me an almost smile from L. “That won’t be a problem,” he reassured her.

“Glad to hear,” said Sophia, as she turned to pick up her bag that she’d left on the couch. “Oh, isn’t this beautiful! This is new, isn’t it?”

I looked over to see what she was talking about. It was the perfume bottle I’d gotten in the post this morning. I’d left it out on the sideboard. “Oh... Yeah, it was a present.”

Sophia gave me a knowing look. “It must have been someone special to send you something as lovely as this.”

I shrugged. “Just someone I used to work with,” I said, attempting to sound casual.

“Ah. Another _colleague_ ,” replied Sophia, putting emphases into the word ‘colleague’.

I didn’t like the look she was giving me and I really didn’t want to get into _that_ story. Especially when I was acutely aware that L could still hear us. So I rather quickly changed the subject and continued to usher her towards the stairs. I thanked her again both for the visit and the presents as I let her out through the front door. I locked up once again before returning upstairs. I felt relieved that the ordeal was over. Nobody knew how to embarrass me like Sophia did.

“Sorry about the interruption,” I apologised to L, as I sat back down and pulled some of the papers towards me so that I could pick up where I’d left off.

“It’s fine. She was quite amusing,” replied L.

I snorted. “That’s one way to put it. I hope she didn’t make you uncomfortable or anything.”

“From what I could tell, you were more uncomfortable than I was,” remarked L.

Oh, great, so he _had_ noticed. “Yeah, she tends to have that effect on me. I know she means well though.”

“She calls you Miss Georgia,” L pointed out.

“Err, yeah, she does,” I said, unsure where he was going with that. Did he think I’d never realised?

“I was under the impression that you prefer to go by Gee,” L continued.

“Oh. Yeah, I do; I don’t really like my full name... But I think it’s a Greek thing,” I explained. “I met Sophia’s sister once before and she was exactly the same – she called me Georgia too. And she insisted on calling my friend Jonathan, even though his name is actually _just_ Johnny. I don’t think Greeks understand nicknames all that well.”

From the way L was looking at me, I could tell I was starting to ramble, so I mentally told myself to shut up. It was true though. God knows what Sophia would think if she knew I referred to Gibson as Gibs.

“I like the name Georgia.”

That was enough to snap me out of the beginnings of my zombie trance. “Huh?” Well, that sounded intelligent.

“The name Georgia means earth-worker. It’s meant for those who are ambitious and can achieve great power,” L recited. “Plus it has a nice ring to it. Obviously, it’s not so commonplace here in Japan.”

I stared at him. How the hell did he know all of that? Was that just more of his idea of ‘trivia’? And more importantly, how did he keep finding such simple ways of making me admire him even more?

I tried my hardest not to gawk like an idiot and to move the attention away from myself. I wasn’t sure how to feel about him telling me that he liked my name, when I’d always personally hated it. “So... how about you? I’m guessing you wouldn’t tell me what your real name is, huh?” I asked lightly.

He just looked at me. Why was I not surprised? At least in this case, I’d known it was a long shot. But then I got an answer that I hadn’t been expecting. “Does that bother you? Not knowing my name?”

I made myself really think about it, rather than just blurting out the first stupid comment that came to mind like I normally did. For someone who lived amongst shadows and behind secrets, identity was a very important thing. But what was a name, really? I didn’t feel that _my_ name particularly defined me – why else would I go by another that I preferred?

“Not really,” I decided. “A name is as interchangeable as anything else. I think a person’s actions are a much more significant definition of them than something as simple as a name.”

“But can you love a being without a name?”

That stopped me completely. I wasn’t entirely sure what he was asking me and I was afraid to answer. Was he just asking rhetorically now? Or was he asking _me_ personally if I loved him?

_Did_ I? I didn’t actually know... I didn’t _think_ so. Surely, it was too soon for that...

I was saved from having to answer when my cell phone started ringing. “ _I know, you know that I’m not telling the truth..._ ” Man, I was really going to have to change my ringtone. Those lyrics were going to continue haunting me for a long time.

“Sorry,” I apologised to L as I fished my phone out of my pocket, though I wasn’t really sorry at all. I checked the caller ID before answering. Out of range. That wasn’t unusual. The reception in my apartment wasn’t the best, especially with calls from anywhere outside of Kyoto. “Hello?”

I was met by a very loud and jumbled shout of, “Happy birthday!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. There was only one group of people I could expect this kind of thing from. “Thanks, everyone,” I said loudly for all of their benefit, though I was probably on speaker phone anyway.

“Did you get all your presents from Johnny?” my mom asked happily.

“Yeah, they were great, thank you!” I enthused. “Especially the perfume – I’d needed a refill of that one!”

“Yeah, Johnny told us that too,” Mom explained, sounding pleased. “He’s a nice boy.”

I should point out that Sakura Shidou is the most innocent and naïve person I’ve ever known, even at her age. Just the fact that she thinks Johnny is a ‘nice boy’ only furthers my point.

“Did Grandpa get my text earlier?” I asked.

Mom laughed. “Yes, he’s been sulking all morning. He felt sure he’d got you this time.”

I grinned to myself – score one for me, thanks to L. “Tell him better luck next time.” I decided to move into the bedroom. I didn’t wanna distract L with small talk with my mom. But first, I wanted an energy drink. All that cake had made me thirsty.

“I will,” Mom laughed again. “So have you been having a nice day? You haven’t been working, have you?”

“No, it’s been nice and relaxing,” I lied, as I pulled a can from the fridge.

There was the barest of pauses. “You’re lying through your teeth, aren’t you?” She may not have been a detective, but any good mom knows their child inside out. She could certainly psych me out better than anyone else could.

“Okay, okay,” I admitted, holding the phone against my ear with my shoulder so that I could crack the ring pull on my can. “But I’m not working on my own this time. And Sophia came round for a bit too. I’ve even had cake!”

“Oh, you _do_ know how to celebrate your birthday then,” said Mom teasingly. “You sound like you’re practically spoiling yourself.”

“Very funny,” I said sarcastically, though I was still smiling.

“Well, I don’t want to disturb you too much if you’re busy,” said Mom. Oh, okay, I hadn’t even made it to the bedroom after all. “We just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Oh, and Shen asked me to pass his number onto you. He said happy birthday too.”

“Oh, you saw Shen?” I’d worked with him numerous times when he’d been a forensic scientist. He’d moved to Osaka though now – actually quite close to my mom’s place – and was working as the city coroner. Mom read the number out to me and I hastily scrawled it across the memo board attached to the fridge. “You should have just given him my number and told him to call me.”

“Well, I know how you can be about giving your number out. So I thought I’d just leave it to you to contact him,” she explained.

“Oh Mom, you could have given it to Shen!” I said. There was only the barest handful of people that I’d trust with my life, but Shen was one of them. “Do you know what he wanted?”

“He said it was about some death records he’d had to check for a woman from Kyoto and that he wanted to run it by you. Something about she’d died a few weeks ago, but somebody’s been using her credit card in Osaka.”

I dropped my can. It hit the floor with a loud clang and the contents sprayed everywhere, soaking my feet. I barely even noticed. L was up in a second and at my side. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him move so fast.

“What is it?” he asked sharply. He clearly knew me better than I thought – at least well enough to know that I rarely drop things carelessly without reason.

And boy, did I have a reason. This could _not_ just be a coincidence. It just couldn’t.

“Mom, I’m gonna have to ring you back...”


	15. Making Preparations

When I called Shen, he confirmed exactly what I’d suspected. Sunae Michishio’s ID had most definitely been used at a small convenience store in the Kanan area of the Minamikawachi district in Osaka.

It was unlikely that the identity thief would still continue to frequent the same store, but it was still a lead and it was definitely worth checking out. And it proved our theory of there being another person involved in this case. So a trip to Osaka was definitely imminent and I had a way to make things a little easier...

“My family live in the Taishi area,” I explained to L, after I’d recounted everything that Shen had told me. We’d been sat back at the kitchen table discussing this for at least half an hour now. “If it’s the same store I’m thinking of in Kanan, then it’s really not that far to get to. I can stay at my mom’s under the pretence of visiting and use it as a cover to investigate further.”

I’d already decided that my family couldn’t know anything about the Kasagi killer case. It was a general rule when you had to deal with the bad guys – the less people knew, the safer they were. The possibility of my family ever being in danger due to this case was a very small percentage, but hey, this was me. I always preferred to be safe rather than sorry.

“You’re doing it again,” said L.

“Doing what?” I asked, feeling confused.

“Acting like you’re going to be doing this alone,” L pointed out.

I felt that same stab of annoyance that he could so often provoke in me. “It’s not like you can really stay with me at my family’s house – how the hell would I explain that one? What are you gonna do; stay in a hotel on your own?”

“No, I think it’s imperative that we stick together for the time being,” replied L. “It’s been made obvious one too many times already how dangerous this case is. You’re not going on your own.”

“I don’t need _you_ to protect me,” I said irritably. Why did everybody always feel the need to mollycoddle me? “I can look after myself just fine.”

“Hmm, let’s see... The last two times you haven’t needed anyone to protect you, you got locked in a building that was then set on fire and you also got yourself cornered by the very killer we’d been chasing.” Was that actually sarcasm I detected? Of course, that only annoyed me further.

“ _And_ I apprehended him,” I pointed out.

“It was a very close call,” reminded L.

He had a point, but no way in hell was I admitting that. “Look, you just can’t come with me. If you want to stay in a hotel somewhere in Osaka, then that’s fine, whatever. But you can’t stay at my family’s place.”

“I fail to see what the problem is here,” said L, annoyingly monotonous as always.

I sighed in frustration. “I already said that I don’t want my family to know about this case. I don’t want them to know that I’m there to work – only to visit. I can’t take you with me as a colleague and even taking you with me as a friend would look suspicious. I’m too old now to have ‘sleepovers’. If I try it, I’m certain that at least one member of my family will know that something’s going on.”

There was only one possible way that I could think of working it without arousing any suspicions, but I was determined that hell would freeze over before I suggested it. There’s just one problem with working alongside other detectives though – they can get inside your head.

“You actually have an idea, don’t you?” said L, as if he could see the cogs turning in my head. “And you’re not going to share it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, trying to sound casual.

“You’re not a very good liar, Gee. I know you’ve thought of something,” insisted L.

“I _am_ a good liar,” I argued.

“That’s not the issue here. Don’t change the subject.”

“Oh, now you know what it feels like for a change!”

I’d blurted it out without quite realising what I was saying. Oops. This was not a road I wanted to go down. L only ever changed the subject if things were starting to get a little too personal. And now I’d pretty much just admitted how much that had always bothered me. Dammit.

“What do you mean by that?”

Crap. “Nothing. Forget it,” I said quickly, hoping he’d drop it.

I wasn’t going to be that lucky. “If you have something to say, then perhaps you should say it,” said L. He seemed impassive as ever, but I was starting to hear the hint of authority in his voice.

“It doesn’t matter,” I insisted. At least if I could keep this up, he’d hopefully forget why we’d began arguing in the first place.

But then this was L we were talking about – he knew exactly how my mind worked. Once again, it was like he’d seen that little light bulb appear above my head. “Well, then tell me your idea. I know you thought of something.”

“No way,” I said stubbornly, knowing there was no point in denying it any longer. But stubborn I could still do. Hell hadn’t frozen over just yet.

“Gee...” said L in the most warning tone I’d ever heard him use. It kinda made my heart flip. Crap. I think hell _had_ just frozen over.

And as much as I hated to admit it, I knew then that I would end up telling him my idea. He clearly had enough influence over me to make me do so, damn him. And the longer I refused to tell him, the more embarrassing it would be when I did eventually have to explain... Jesus Christ, why couldn’t my life ever be easy?

“Okay, okay...” I tried as hard as I could not to let anything show on my face and used the most neutral tone I could manage. “The only way I can think of inviting you to stay with my family without it looking suspicious is if I... passed you off as my boyfriend.”

Damn, I hadn’t delivered that well at all. I’d paused too long and then said the last part all in a rush. What I’d give to have the same emotional blankness that L always displayed.

“Your boyfriend?” L repeated. His expression was completely unreadable. As usual, I had no idea what he was thinking.

“Right,” I said, willing myself not to blush and to try and remain professional. “It’d seem reasonable. And I could actually use that as the reason for the visit – the whole meeting my family and seeing my hometown kinda thing.”

It was definitely reasonable. I knew because I’d actually done it before, though that time had been a real boyfriend, not a fake one. But I kept that part to myself. That certain someone from my past seemed to keep cropping up lately and it was starting to get on my nerves. There were only so many things I could keep bottled up.

L had been silent for a while, so I took the chance to try and talk him out of it. “But if you want, we can just forget the whole thing,” I suggested innocently. “Maybe we can find you a hotel that’s...”

“No, let’s do that,” L interrupted.

“Say what?”

“The... boyfriend thing.”

Oh, hell, even he sounded hesitant about it. I certainly hadn’t expected him to agree to it. I’d actually been hoping that the whole idea would throw him off guard and make him change his mind entirely.

I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to lie to my family if I could get away with it – even though it was the safer option for their benefit. And I really didn’t want to have to start pretending things with L. This was only sure to just cause more embarrassment. And it would likely be me getting the brunt of it. It always was.

“Are you sure?” I asked weakly. “I mean, you don’t have to feel like...”

“No, it’s fine,” L cut me off swiftly again. “If this’ll be the best way to work it, then so be it.”

Damn. Why did he always have to be so proficient? “Fine then,” I sighed, reaching for my phone again. This was not going to be a fun conversation.

**XXX**

I was right. And the conversation was made even more awkward by L insisting on listening in. He clearly didn’t trust me not to still try and cut him out of the plan altogether. Needless to say, my mom was surprised to hear the news about my ‘boyfriend’ – she hadn’t even known I was in a serious relationship. Funnily enough, neither had I.

But she was more than happy for the two of us to stay. I cringed from a mix of guilt and dread when she stipulated how excited she was to meet L – though of course, in this instance, it was Ryuzaki once more. Damn, I was gonna have to remember to stick to that myself this time.

We continued to review case details afterwards, though it was only for a short time before L decided that we should call it quits for the day. It seemed quite clear that I wasn’t the only one who felt awkward about this whole idea. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

We were to leave for Osaka tomorrow. I was driving, obviously. Before L left, we arranged a ballpark time so that we’d have more time to plan and prepare if we needed. I resisted the urge to ask where he was staying until then. I was only curious. Honest.

The rest of my day after L had gone passed by in an obscure muddle, caused mostly by my scattered thoughts. Why was this happening? I couldn’t believe I had to do this. It seemed that every time something good happened, I then had something awkward tagged onto it. The ‘something awkward’ usually being L related.

After I’d tidied away my presents and the remnants of wrapping paper, received well wishes phone calls from Johnny, both of the twins _and_ Gibson – that had certainly been a tense conversation as I desperately tried to conceal any indication that there was some serious vigilante plotting going on – eaten even more cake and also started on Sophia’s biscuits (they were to die for, just as I’d imagined), I was surprised to find just how much the day had ran away with me. It was almost nine o’clock.

There were still things I needed to do before tomorrow. I still had to shower, pack and there was one phone call I wanted to make myself.

I decided to start with packing. I preferred to pack earlier rather than later, giving my mind time to catch up and realise early enough if I was forgetting anything. I threw in several outfits – I had no idea how long we’d be staying in Osaka, but if the worst came to it, I could always hedge some clothes off my mom or Auntie Maggie – along with a proper pair of pyjamas that I’d finally consented to buying.

I was guessing that L would be staying in my room. He may have been an insomniac, but I’d still need him to keep up the pretence to some extent for my family’s sake. The thought alone was nerve-wracking enough. Thank god Auntie Maggie had had the sense to invest in a sleeping bag when I was younger.

My overnight bag of toiletries followed the clothes into my suitcase, including one of my many spare toothbrushes. Hey, hygiene was important. I wrapped my everyday perfume up amongst the clothes so that it wouldn’t get damaged – a cheap convenience store brand called Secret Fantasy. I deliberated for a while before also packing my new refill of my Sarah Jessica Parker NYC perfume, all the while telling myself that it _wasn’t_ just because it was the one that had made L tell me I smelt like sweets.

Upon further consideration, I also ended up packing the new Super G one that Johnny had gotten me. That one smelt extremely sweet as well – I wondered if L would like that one too... I momentarily chastised myself for that thought, but it still wasn’t enough to make me unpack it.

Underwear and other essentials were packed next – a couple of my Georgina Kincaid books coming under ‘essentials’. I couldn’t really see myself having much time for reading since we were going to be investigating, but that was just another part of the pretence. I took books everywhere. Everyone knew that. And I’d already figured out that my excuse for not spending much time at my family’s house was going to be because I was showing L around where I’d grew up in Osaka. Foolproof plan.

And in regards to reading, I didn’t feel much like continuing the series right now anyway. I only had two books left. Georgina and Seth’s relationship had somehow turned stale and now Seth was engaged to someone else. What was up with that? I empathised with her character so much that I felt like it hurt me almost as much as it did her.

Maybe I just needed to stop getting to invested in my books. I wasn’t Georgina. And the last thing I’d have to worry about with L was him running off with somebody else.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling annoyed with myself. Even whilst doing something as simple as packing, I still couldn’t stop thinking about him. I really needed to get a grip. No... What I needed was a real distraction. Time to make that phone call.

I got an answer on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“Hi, Em, it’s Gee.”

“Oh, Gee! Happy birthday!”

Emiiya’s originally from Bulgaria, but she’s done a lot of travelling and is multilingual like me – between most of my friends, we have quite a diverse group. Despite being fluent in both Japanese and English, Emiiya’s accent is still as pronounced as it ever was. It sounds totally cute when she gets excited.

We chatted for a little while and had a brief catch-up. I thanked her for my present too – I couldn’t wait for an opportunity to wear my new pineapple dress. But I eventually got round to what I’d called for in the first place. “Do you reckon you can do me a huge favour tomorrow if you’re not busy?”

“Hmm...” Emiiya made a teasing show of deliberating, like she so often did. “Since it’s you – and I like you – I _may_ think about it... What do you need?”

I knew I could count on her, no matter how little notice I often had to give her. She was a nail technician by trade, but was also skilled with makeup and hair styling. And she was always happy to do random little jobs for me if I ever needed anything for a case.

“Nothing too extreme. I’m gonna be staying with my family and I don’t want them to know I’m on a case,” I explained. “But obviously enough to make a difference.”

Emiiya pondered in silence for a bit. “I think I have a few tricks in mind... You okay with dye again? Something semi-permanent? Nothing overly dramatic. I’ll bring a selection with me.”

“Yeah, that’d be great!” I enthused. I trusted her judgement on it. She understood the kind of thing that I normally needed.

“Okay then! What time would you like to be blessed with my presence?”

We agreed on a time that was about an hour before the ballpark time L and I had decided on to leave for Osaka. I figured that that would be plenty of time for a quick dye job and any other alterations that Emiiya might suggest.

I thanked her several times before we said our goodbyes. She really was too good to me, doing this at such short notice yet again. The worst part was that she always refused to charge me for any of it. I was going to have to find a way to treat her to a meal out or something that she couldn’t get out of.

Well, that was another thing sorted from my list at least. Next was showering. That was crossed off in quick succession too. After everything was done, I ended up curled up in bed amongst my wolves watching Psych. Hey, I wasn’t going to get to watch any whilst we were in Osaka – I wanted to make the most of it whilst I could.

Not to mention I needed something else to keep my mind occupied now that I’d ran out of things to do. My own company was often my worst enemy. My heart ached at the reminder that I didn’t even have Kyo to rely on anymore. I definitely needed a time consumer right now. If I had a problem, then this was always the sort of time when I started to over think things. And boy, did I have a problem...

So Psych it was. It was frequently a good distraction for me and a cure for most of my moods. And I definitely needed something of high standard to distract me with the whole L/family/case issue weighing down on my mind... Which is why I ended up watching several more episodes literally right up until I fell asleep.

**XXX**

L arrived before Emiiya did, whilst I was in the midst of packing the last few things I’d thought of since waking up, so I was able to fill him in on the plan.

“We’ve been friends since university. She’s helped me out with minor disguises on quite a few cases – she’s experienced with lots of various cosmetics, hair styling, you name it,” I explained. “She’s gonna just give me a semi-permanent dye job and maybe a new style. Nothing that’ll make my family suspicious, but enough so that I shouldn’t be as recognisable to strangers.”

“It’s a reasonable plan,” L agreed. “We know that at least one of the people involved with the murders already knows both your face and name. A disguise, however subtle, should hopefully make it a little easier for us to investigate without being recognised.”

“Exactly. And Emiiya said she’s bringing some extra stuff with her so we could ask her to do the same for you,” I suggested. Personally, I couldn’t imagine L with a different hair colour, but hey, there were some things you just had to give up for this line of work.

“No. Thank you,” replied L shortly.

“Err, okay...” I was a little thrown by his bluntness. I was only suggesting it for his benefit.

He seemed to notice I was taken aback though and proceeded to explain. “Whereas I appreciate the gesture, I’d actually prefer not to meet your friend at all. I think you forget, but I’ve always worked from the shadows. Remember that this is the first time I’ve agreed to work with people where I’ve actually allowed them to see my face.”

Of course. When he put it like that, I actually felt like a bit of an idiot. I was the one who’d forced him to change his ways and goaded him into working with our team in person. Then he’d been subjected to Sophia yesterday too, who wasn’t even part of the case. Another unnecessary person to know his face. And it was going to be the same with my family when we got to Osaka too.

“Ah, man, I didn’t even think about that. With Sophia yesterday too... I’m sorry; I guess I _did_ forget that you’re not...” Not what? Not normal is probably what I was thinking.

“It’s quite alright,” L reassured, saving me from having to finish my sentence. “Your charming neighbour was merely that. I highly doubt she even suspected me of being a detective – she seemed to believe that you referring to me as a colleague was just an excuse you were using to save yourself embarrassment over the implications of us being in a romantic relationship.”

Oh, wow. Did he have to put it like that? Socially inept as he may have been, he still always managed to pick up on the things that I didn’t want him to notice.

“But I believe your friend from university may draw a different conclusion,” L continued. “She obviously understands more about your life as a detective and could be more likely to associate me directly with the case.”

Yet again, he was right. Obviously, I knew that Emiiya was completely trustworthy – that was why I always turned to her for this kind of work. But I couldn’t ask L to trust someone who was yet another stranger to him on top of everything else I’d asked him to do. Especially when he generally had a much stronger distrust of others than most people did.

“I understand,” I said genuinely. “I’m sorry I didn’t think about this properly. I’ll give Emiiya a call and see if maybe we can...”

I was interrupted by the doorbell ringing downstairs. Ah, hell. It was clearly too late to try and change the plan now. Emiiya was already here. But now what was I supposed to do with L?

“Damn, that’s gonna be her,” I cursed. I racked my brain but couldn’t really come up with a better option than... “Um, I think you’ll have to hide out in my bedroom until she’s gone.”

L didn’t seem at all bothered by that idea like I was. “That’s fine.” He climbed down from the chair he’d been perched on. Geez, how was I gonna explain _that_ one to my family? “I assume you’ll be able to keep her busy.”

“Right.”

I hurried downstairs to let Emiiya in, whilst L disappeared into the bedroom. I tried to remember if I had anything incriminating or embarrassing in there, but I didn’t think there was anything. Still... I wasn’t exactly happy about L staying in there on his own for however long Emiiya would be here for.

She was carrying a big case of goodies and gave me a wide smile when I opened the door. She was another one like Masami who made me feel like a scruff ball, since her makeup and long brown hair were always immaculate. Today was no exception. Though her quirky fashion sense was at least as alternative as mine, unlike Masami’s designer labels.

“Are you ready for your close up, Mr. Bond?” she said in way of greeting, waving the case at me.

I laughed. “How can I say no to that?”

She accepted my offer of a drink once we were upstairs, so I set about making coffee whilst she unpacked her cosmetic selection. All the while, I was worrying about L in the next room. The last time I’d had to conceal a guy in my apartment had been when I’d tried to hide Johnny from L himself. Of course, he’d figured it out straightaway. Though I bet he’d never have guessed that he’d be the one hiding in my apartment the next time round.

I shook the thoughts clear from my head and made myself concentrate on what Emiiya was saying. Once I’d made the coffee – well, coffee for her and an energy drink for me – we got started. She put some plastic covers on the floor and over the chair I was sitting on so that the dye didn’t get everywhere.

We chatted about various things whilst she worked. Movies, work, people from our university courses... She had minor gossip about a girl I’d been good friends with called Rosanne, until my boyfriend at the time had cheated on me with her. Yeah. To cut a long story short; let’s just say I really have the worst luck with men.

And according to Emiiya, Rosanne was now unemployed and having to sponge off her parents at the age of twenty-three. Karma’s a glorious bitch.

“So what about you?” Emiiya asked as she worked the dye through to my scalp. “No men on the scene for you?”

Why did everyone keep asking me that? “Oh, that part of my life’s complicated as always,” I said offhandedly. It wasn’t exactly easy to go into detail when said guy you were thinking about was actually in the room next door and could probably hear everything. “You know me.”

Emiiya must have noticed something in my voice. “Is everything okay? You seem really tense today.”

That was an understatement. I clearly wasn’t as good as hiding it as I thought. “Yeah, just thinking about case stuff,” I said. It was partly true – L was involved in the case after all. 

Emiiya wasn’t buying it for a second. “Are you sure?” I could practically feel her scrutinising expression burning into the back of my head. “Because I _do_ know you. And you seem to land yourself deep in man troubles more often than work troubles.”

I couldn’t help laughing at that. It was just too true. “I guess you could say I have a bit of both right now,” I admitted, still unwilling to elaborate when I was sure that L could hear us if he cared to listen.

Emiiya could sense that too. “Well, you know where I am if you wanna talk about it,” she said sweetly. “Though surely you’ve had your share of frogs already. I mean Suzil, Li, Chet, Dex...”

“Hey, you don’t have to start listing them all off!” I protested, squirming unpleasantly at the last name. The one I always tried not to think about, but that annoyingly kept coming to light lately. “I don’t really need the reminder.”

“Sorry,” said Emiiya apologetically. “I just mean that you’ve had enough of the bad ones; I hope you haven’t found another one...” She then added teasingly. “I’m sure you’ll find your fairytale prince soon.”

We both shared a laugh over that. Fairytale princes most definitely didn’t exist. Even good guys seemed to be a rarity nowadays. Especially if you wanted one who was both single _and_ straight.

“Right, I think you’re done,” Emiiya announced after a while. “These ones don’t need to stand, since they’re not permanent. I’ve massaged it in enough... It should last about ten washes.”

“Sounds good to me. That should be long enough,” I said. I was intrigued to see it. She hadn’t even shown me what colour she was using. I’d left the choice up to her – she knew better than I did when it came to anything hair related.

Emiiya took her plastic gloves off and threw them in the bin. “Now let’s get it washed out first and then I’ll style it a bit for you. Come on...”

Oh, crap, she was heading for the bathroom... Which you had to go through the bedroom to get to.

“No, wait!” I blurted out.

Emiiya looked startled. “What?”

“Err...” I racked my brains quickly, desperately trying to think of a reasonable excuse to stop her from going into the bedroom. “I mean, um, do you mind if we wash it off in the kitchen sink? I only just had the bathroom redecorated.”

Emiiya just laughed at me. “Sure, whichever. You don’t have to look so manic about it.”

I mentally breathed a sigh of relief, commending myself for my quick thinking. That was a close call. How exactly would I have explained having a guy hidden away in my bedroom? For a lot of girls, that probably wouldn’t be that uncommon, but Emiiya knew me better than that.

She helped me wash all of the dye out of my hair over the kitchen sink, which was a little awkward, but it was better than the alternative. She then gave it a quick blow dry with the travel hairdryer she’d brought with her and insisted on styling it first before letting me see.

“If you blow dry it after showering rather than letting it dry naturally, it should pretty much fall back into this style,” she told me once she was done. She pulled a mirror out of her case. “Here, you can look now.”

“Whoa...”

I always get that initial shock after having my hair dyed – those first few seconds of not quite recognising that person looking back at you in the reflection. It really didn’t help either that I hadn’t had a clue what to expect... But Emiiya had done a great job. My hair was now a brown so deep that it was almost black. Almost as dark as L’s. And she’d styled it so that it curled inwards, rather than sticking out like it normally did, framing my face much more nicely. A lot better than the usual scruffy look I was so used to.

“Oh, wow, it looks great!” I enthused, trying to examine it from every possible angle that I could manage with one mirror.

“Of course it does,” Emiiya agreed, looking pleased. “It’s my work of art!”

I fawned over my new hairstyle some more, before still trying to give Emiiya some payment for it in return. As usual, she abstained, so I mentally swore to find a way to pay her back. But the clock was ticking. L and I would need to be leaving for Osaka soon.

Luckily, Emiiya has a sixth sense for that kind of thing and could immediately tell my agitation over the time, so she swiftly packed away the rest of her things. “Well, that’s it for me then,” she announced. “Now remember what I told you about blow drying your hair...”

“I’ll try,” I smiled. She knew that I was usually lazy and just left it to dry naturally. “Seriously, Em, thanks so much for this. If I can ever return the favour...”

“You’ll be the first to know,” Emiiya returned the smile.

I accompanied her downstairs to see her out, thanking her several times more and in return, she wished me luck on whatever case it was that I was working on. Only after that, did I feel free to return upstairs and finally allow L out of my room. Yeesh, that made him sound like a pet that I’d had to keep cooped up and out of trouble.

When I opened the door, I could tell straightaway from looking at the bookcase on the wall opposite that he’d rearranged all of my books. Most likely alphabetically, as opposed to how I’d ordered them by genre. I could practically feel my eye twitching. He’d screwed up my system! But then I could hardly complain when he’d waited so patiently in here for me.

“You, um, organised my books,” I said.

“Yes. Sorry, it was bothering me.” The feeling was mutual. He gestured to the bed. “I rearranged your toys too.”

I bristled at the word ‘toys’. They weren’t _toys_ – they were plushies. It was totally different. But I had to bite back a laugh when I saw how he’d arranged them all in height order, covering the gap that Jerry and Blue had left (who were now in my suitcase). Even I wasn’t that bad. But then L was already such a head case... I should have expected that he’d have some level of OCD too.

“Your new hair is interesting.”

“Huh?” The horror of my books being moved around had momentarily caused me to forget about my hair. “Oh... Yeah.” I pulled at one of the strands, trying to see the new colour again. “I think it’ll take some getting used to.”

“It looks nice, but I think I preferred your old colour,” L commented.

I automatically flushed at the compliment. “Oh, thanks...” Why did he seem to like everything that I disliked about myself? My hair, my name... Next he’d be commending me on my choices in men. “Well, it’s not permanent anyway.”

“I’m glad.”

What the hell? He wasn’t normally this complimentary. Maybe this hair dye was magic as well as semi-permanent... But then when I caught sight of myself in the mirror on the dressing table, I understood what he meant. I hadn’t been able to tell from using Emiiya’s little hand mirror just how different I looked. I didn’t really look like me.

Not as L knew me anyway. I’d gone through a stage of dyeing my hair quite often when I was younger, so it wouldn’t be anything new to my family. And at least it would be more likely to confuse our identity thief/possible killer, which was the original intention anyway.

But then that just reminded me how much L was putting himself in danger with this. With a disguise, however minor, I was technically safer than he was. He seemed to think that his unkempt appearance made him indiscreet and unnoticeable, but in actuality, it just made him stick out like a sore thumb. I couldn’t understand how he didn’t see that.

I knew it was his own decision in choosing not to have a disguise. I could hardly force him into it, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t still worried.

And it seemed I really was failing at hiding my emotions today if even L was able to notice. I could see him scrutinising my face out of the corner of my eye. “What is it?” he asked.

“I’m just worried about this whole thing,” I admitted. “We still don’t entirely know what we’re dealing with here. We don’t know how many people could actually be involved in this.”

“We don’t have to go to Osaka if you don’t want to,” said L. “We can pass on what we’ve found out to Mr. Gibson instead.”

I bit my lip. It was true – that would have actually been the more logical solution from the start. But that annoying sense of pride was still niggling at me. Gibson had chosen to close the case. Whereas L and I were the ones who had believed there was still more to it. _We_ were the ones who had discovered this new lead. We should be the ones to solve it and say I told you so.

And that wasn’t really the problem I had right now anyway. I shook my head. “It’s not me I’m worried about. It’s _you_. You’re the one who’s going to have to go unarmed. You’re the one who’s not even bothering with a disguise.”

“You don’t have to worry about me,” said L smoothly.

But I did worry. And it wasn’t just because it was L. If it had been any other civilian I was taking with me, it would have still been the same. That instinct was still in me from my time as a cop. If you were the one carrying a weapon, then you wanted to use it to protect those around you more than you wanted to protect yourself.

“It’s just...” I wanted to put that notion into words, but somehow, I didn’t think L would be particularly flattered if he knew I was just treating him like any other civilian. “I know you didn’t want to come into contact with Emiiya and that’s fine. But can’t you just let _me_ try and make you look a little different? Or even just wear some other clothes? You always wear the same thing and...”

“I don’t have anything else to wear,” L interrupted. Urgh, he was kinda focusing on the wrong thing here.

“I can find you something,” I said impatiently. “Even if it’s just a coat or a hoody. If anybody spotted you that time we broke into Jin Tanaka’s office – or if they saw you coming to and from mine at any point – then they’re gonna be looking for someone pale with messy hair and plain clothes.”

I was probably being a little insulting, especially after he’d actually been quite nice to me today, but I just wanted to get the idea through his head. It didn’t matter how safe I felt with _my_ disguise – I wouldn’t be happy until I was sure that L would be safe too.

Thankfully, the message finally seemed to be sinking in. “Alright then,” agreed L. If you have something that you think will fit, then I shall wear it.”

That was a good point. My first thought was my trench coat, but somehow, I had a feeling that L would just look ridiculous in it. It would make him even more conspicuous than ever. But I was certain I’d have something that would work. “Thank you,” I said gratefully. “Now let me have a look...”

I proceeded to rifle through my wardrobe. Thank god L was so skinny – that made this a little easier. It was more his height that was likely to be the problem. But at the back of the wardrobe, I did find something suitable. Something I’d completely forgotten that I even still had.

“What about this?” I held up the grey and black stripy hoody that had always been several sizes too big for me. Well, it was a man’s hoody after all. “Here, try it on.”

L obliged and took the hoody from my hands. I think a tiny part of me was hoping he’d take his shirt off first and wear the hoody instead... But no, the boring sod just pulled the hoody on over the top. Like I’d guessed, it fit him way better than it had ever fit me. And it was amazing how much one baggy hoody made him look more normal.

“It suits you,” I smiled approvingly.

L didn’t look like he cared whether it suited him or not. He pulled at the fabric that was still a little baggy on him. “I’m guessing this wasn’t originally yours? If it’s big on me, then it would certainly be too big for you.”

The smile disappeared from my face. “You’re right; it wasn’t,” I said shortly. This whole dredging up bad memories thing was just getting ridiculous lately.

“So did this belong to one of the aforementioned ex-boyfriends that your friend brought up earlier?” asked L unblinkingly. “Since this is clearly a men’s size.”

I felt my face colour. So he _had_ been listening. “Well, either way, it’s none of your business,” I said hotly. If I hadn’t wanted to talk to Emiiya about it, then I certainly wouldn’t want to talk to L about it. I shut the wardrobe doors harder than I normally would have done. “Now come on, we should really be leaving soon...”

“Gee?”

I stopped reluctantly in my tracks. “What?” I asked, a little more harshly than I’d probably meant to.

It didn’t look like L had taken offence though – his face was as blank as always. “I don’t think this would have suited you anyway,” he said simply, pulling at the hem of the hoody again.

I just looked at him... Then I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I _think_ he’d somehow been trying to make me feel better, but it had just ended up sounding more like an insult. Lucky for him, I was used to regular abuse from Johnny. I didn’t offend that easily.

“I’m assuming you meant that in a nice way, so thanks... I guess,” I said, laughing again. “So are you gonna just stop at the hoody or are you gonna let me do something with your hair too?”

“My hair?” L repeated.

“Just let me try and tidy it up a bit...”

“Fine.”

I was amazed he was even consenting to it, but I certainly wasn’t going to miss the opportunity. I grabbed a brush and kicked out the chair from underneath the dressing table. “Sit.”

L sat down and I tentatively moved to stand behind him. I wasn’t as confident as I made out – what the hell did I know about hair styling? But something needed to be done about L’s wild mane of hair, even if all I did was attempt to tame it a bit.

I very gingerly ran the brush through it, expecting it to be so matted that I’d have to rip my way through it. Thankfully, it was a lot softer than it looked and didn’t even seem to be tangled at all. Maybe he took better care of it than I’d thought. Or at least used some seriously awesome shampoo.

L was silent the whole time and I couldn’t really think of anything to say either, save a few nervous jokes that I decided to keep to myself. The situation suddenly felt quite awkward. Why had I insisted on doing this? I could have just told him to sort his hair out himself instead. I was sure that he wasn’t that out of the loop that he didn’t know how to brush his own hair.

The atmosphere was made even more uncomfortable when I ran the brush through the hair at the back of L’s neck and he shuddered involuntarily. “What?” I asked, startled.

“It’s nothing,” he replied monotonously, his composure instantly back in place.

Thank you. That was very enlightening, I thought to myself sarcastically. It didn’t help either that L was watching me in the mirror the whole time. That made me feel even more nervous about playing hairdresser and I proceeded to tackle the rest of his hair even more tentatively than before.

Though despite my obvious inexperience – not to mention the fact that I didn’t use a brush that often myself – I didn’t think I’d done too bad a job. It was certainly a lot tidier than before and I was sure that he wouldn’t be anywhere near as noticeable with his hair like this.

“And the torture’s over – you’re free to go now,” I said jokingly, trying to keep my tone light.

L obediently got up. When he did, I realised that he’d actually been sitting normally for once. He barely spared a glance at himself as he turned away from the mirror, though that was hardly surprising. It had been clear from the start that his own appearance didn’t interest him in any way.

I hadn’t quite managed to brush out the spikiness of his hair, but at least now it looked like it had been purposely styled that way, rather than looking like it had just been left to fend for itself. With the hair and the oversized hoody, he almost looked... normal. Just your average, semi-casual young adult.

Which was exactly why it didn’t suit him. L wasn’t average by any means – he was far more than that. This look just didn’t do the eccentric genius any justice.

All I wanted to do right now was _undo_ everything I’d just done. I wanted to run my hands through his hair until it was back to its unruly state. I wanted to rip that hoody off him so that he was left in his characteristically boring outfit again. _No_ , not in a sexual way. Well... Maybe a little bit.

But at least now if we ran into Gibson or the others, we looked different enough that we’d probably have time to get away before they recognised us. Though it would be embarrassing if they did. Chad would most likely make a very male comment about my hair and lord knows what they’d think of L in this get-up... Now we just looked like we were trying to pass ourselves off as an everyday couple. It was so far off the mark that I couldn’t help but giggle.

“What?” asked L.

“You actually look normal for once. But it doesn’t really suit you,” I said.

“This was your idea; not mine,” L reminded me.

“I know,” I agreed. “And the plan clearly worked...” I took his arm and turned him back to face the mirror, standing beside him. It wasn’t in a ‘trying to look like a couple’ way, I swear. “Neither of us look that much like us anymore...”

“The perfect disguise,” L agreed, catching my drift.

“Exactly. I think we’re ready to do this.”


	16. Stop With The Curveballs

The drive to Osaka wasn’t exactly what you’d call comfortable. L wasn’t a great conversationalist at the best of times, but car drives really seem to be out of his comfort zone and he always clams up even more. And on top of the half-hour awkward silence, I was still freaking out over how this whole thing was going to work.

I was positive that somebody would either find out what we were up to or that something highly embarrassing would happen. The latter sounded a lot more likely, but hell, knowing my luck, I’d probably end up with both.

I’d never been so grateful to see the house that I’d grown up in. I parked on the side of the road behind my Auntie Maggie’s car. Cars weren’t all that necessary for me here. Most places I’d needed to go to were all within walking distance. That suited me quite well – I wanted to use my car as little as possible. Cars were a way to be identified.

“Well... here we are,” I said awkwardly after we’d gotten out of the car.

I’d already dragged my suitcase out of the trunk. L actually had a small duffel bag slung over his shoulder. I couldn’t help but wonder what was in it. I’d never seen him carry anything before. As far as I was concerned, all he owned was a single outfit, a cell phone and a laptop.

With the duffel bag and the hoody I’d forced him to wear, he could actually pass for a normal guy right now. Until he opened his mouth at least. Or tried sitting the way he usually preferred to. That would definitely be a dead giveaway that he was anything _but_ normal.

“After you,” prompted L.

I wondered if he felt uncomfortable with this situation. Meeting families was always quite tense for anybody. But for L, rarely ever allowing anyone to see his face, it had to be really tough. Though of course, his expression was as impassive as always and I had no hope of knowing for sure.

Feeling quite nervous myself, I led the way down to the house. I felt like I really was introducing a real boyfriend to my family. And I realised then that I really _did_ want my family to like L. I wanted them to appreciate him the way that I did. I wanted them to accept him.

I quickly scolded myself following that thought. I couldn’t think things like that. I had to keep viewing the situation from a professional angle. I couldn’t let myself believe it was real on any level or I was just going to end up feeling even more mixed up about L.

Sadly, that still wasn’t quite enough to calm my nerves and I rang the doorbell with a sense of trepidation. Thankfully, it was my mom who answered the door. She was easily the most normal one of the household.

“Gee-Gee!” She enveloped me in a big hug. “It feels like ages since I’ve seen you!”

“Hey, Mom...” I hugged her back, feeling a pang of sadness. Seeing her always reminded me how much I missed being with my family. I really needed to make the time to visit more often. I always let myself get bogged down with work too much.

She gave me a wide smile when she let go. “You changed your hair again! It makes me feel like you’re a teenager again – you were always dyeing your hair back then! It looks great though. Dark suits you.”

Well, that part of the plan had clearly been successful. She didn’t suspect a thing. Sakura Shidou had always known what it felt like to be plain, so she’d never begrudged me changing my style in an attempt to feel more comfortable. Funnily enough, the comfort part was a lot more important to me now than style. Hence why my hair was usually allowed to run wild. But not as wild as L’s, I might add. At least I actually brushed mine every day.

“I just fancied a change again,” I said casually. I grabbed L’s arm and pulled him forwards. If he didn’t introduce himself soon, then it was going to look rude. Looked like I had to step in and do it myself. “Mom, this is Ryuzaki.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” said L obligingly. 

“The pleasure’s all mine. I’m Sakura,” Mom beamed. She didn’t give any indication that she thought L seemed unusual at all. Lucky strike number two. “Come on in. I’ll go make some coffee,” she decided as we followed her inside. “Ryuzaki, how do you take yours?”

“Black with eight sugars, thank you.”

Oh, good lord... Because that didn’t make him sound abnormal. I resisted the urge to kick him. Thankfully, Mom just laughed. “Alright then. Gee, do you want anything?”

“Anything fizzy,” I replied.

“I should have known,” said Mom, rolling her eyes. Hey, at least I wasn’t requesting energy drinks. She always chastised me for that particular habit.

“I’ll go take our stuff upstairs,” I said.

“Let me take that one,” L cut in, taking the suitcase from me. “Lead the way.”

“Err, it’s this way,” I said, vaguely pointing in the direction of the stairs as I stared at him. Since when had L ever offered to carry my things? Once we were out of earshot, I then hissed, “What are you doing?”

“Isn’t this the protocol for boyfriends?” L asked, completely oblivious.

“Not necessarily. It’s certainly not one I adhere to,” I pointed out. “I can carry my own suitcase.”

“As you wish then,” said L with a shrug, handing the suitcase back to me. Typical.

“You’ve gotta be careful,” I warned him as we reached the top of the stairs. “If you act like you don’t know me, then this isn’t gonna work. It’s gonna raise suspicions with my family – they already know what I do and don’t like guys trying to do for me.”

L stopped beside me. “Alright. So what do I need to know?”

I hesitated. That wasn’t exactly easy to say. How did you describe yourself, along with your wants and needs, to somebody else? And this certainly wasn’t a conversation we could really have on the landing when my family were waiting downstairs for us.

“Later,” I said, opening the door to my old bedroom. “Just try not to say too much for now. If they think you’re shy, then they won’t find that unusual.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Well, at least he knew he wasn’t the world’s best conversationalist.

I ditched the suitcase just inside the door and told L to do the same with his duffel bag. He was busy looking around the room already. “Come on, let’s get back downstairs,” I said, tugging on his sleeve. There would certainly be time for the awkward tour later on.

Mom was just finishing making the drinks when we got down to the kitchen. Auntie Maggie and Grandpa were already sat at the table with drinks of their own. They both looked up when we entered the room. Christ on a bike, here we go...

“Gee!” Auntie Maggie leapt out of her chair when she saw me and ran over to give me a hug. Ever exuberant – she was more like a big sister than an aunt. “Love the new hair! How have you been keeping?”

“Busy, as always,” I replied truthfully. “How about you?”

“Oh, you know, always partying,” she grinned.

“You wish,” Mom added.

Auntie Maggie rolled her eyes at her. “Saki keeps trying to say I’m ‘too old’ to party now, but of course we never listen to her.”

“I’m sure,” I smiled.

Auntie Maggie was a lot of things, but she could certainly never be described as _old_. But then my mom was a bit of a wallflower type when it came to parties herself, so she probably would say something like that. I’d like to say I follow in those footsteps of hers, but I’m actually a bit of a nutter when I’m drunk... Yeah, I guess you all know about that already.

“So are you going to introduce us to your friend?” Auntie Maggie asked knowingly, looking over my shoulder at L.

“Oh, yeah. This is Ryuzaki.” I dragged L forward again. I knew he’d be uncomfortable with a situation like this, but he was kinda overdoing the whole ‘shy’ thing. Did I have to do everything for him? “Ryuzaki, this is my Auntie Maggie.”

L gave her a rather awkward nod. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Then, to my absolute amazement, Auntie Maggie grabbed him in a hug as well. “Well, aren’t you cute! It’s nice to meet you too!”

Oh, great, he was going to think we were a family of spontaneous huggers... Though if _I_ was taken aback, I’m sure it was nothing compared to how L was feeling. He wasn’t easy to surprise, but I could see it on his face right now. I had to actually bite back a laugh. It was really quite comical.

But that didn’t mean that Auntie Maggie got to have all the fun. I had to physically pull him away from her. “Okay, you don’t have to smother him.”

“No need to get jealous, Gee-Gee,” Auntie Maggie teased with another grin. I flushed in spite of myself.

“Very funny,” I said dryly, in an attempt to cover my embarrassment. “Err, why don’t we sit down...” I directed L over to sit next to my grandpa, who had been quiet so far. It was certainly safer than sitting him next to Auntie Maggie. “This is my grandpa, Yoshi.”

Grandpa gave L a curt nod as he sat down. Thankfully, he did it in a normal fashion for once. “Pleasure.”

“You too,” replied L. He was probably relieved that my grandpa was more composed than the female side of the family.

I sat down opposite them, besides the chair that Auntie Maggie had just vacated. “So how’s it going, old man?”

“Oh, you know how it is. Have to suffer this rowdy lot every day of my life.” He jabbed a thumb towards Auntie Maggie, who had just re-claimed her seat. “And by rowdy lot, I mean her.”

Auntie Maggie just beamed at him, ignoring the jibe. We all knew that Yoshi Shidou actually had a huge soft spot for the wacky redhead, even if he never openly admitted it. “Don’t listen to him. He’s been grumpy ever since your birthday. He really didn’t expect you to get one over on him this time.”

Realisation dawned on me. “Of course, the clock! Well, tough luck, old man, I happened to have a certain brainbox helping me out on that one.”

I grinned and winked in L’s direction before I even realised what I was doing. Aww, crap, was I really flirting that openly with him now? I guessed I’d always just been used to banter flowing so easily amongst my family. Just being in an environment with them again was clearly making it rub off on me already.

Thankfully, nobody else seemed to notice. I don’t think even L did. That or he just wasn’t letting on. But then I most certainly wouldn’t have put that past him.

“Ah, so you’re familiar with the Chinese superstition then?” Grandpa asked L.

“Yes,” replied L. “I have some extended family from China.”

No wonder it was always so hard to tell when he was lying. He’d done it so smoothly that it was impossible to know the difference. If I hadn’t known any different, then I would have believed him too. But then, for all I knew, this was the truth and what he’d told me yesterday had been the lie... Urgh. Sometimes I felt like we’d been brought together on this case just for him to mess with my head.

It was probably better if I didn’t think about it. “So does this mean I get my _real_ present now?” I directed the subject change at my grandpa.

“I suppose,” he grumbled. “If you can find it.”

“What; I have to do treasure hunts as well as riddles now?”

“Don’t worry; it’s only on my dresser,” Auntie Maggie cut in. “He just clearly can’t be bothered to go upstairs and get it.”

“Terrible,” I teased, shaking my head theatrically.

That was the other great thing about my grandpa’s method of gift giving – besides the obvious challenge that they usually posed – it meant that I always had at least one present to still look forward to even after my birthday was over. But I’d wait until later for this one. Probably better not to leave L alone with my family just yet. Even if it was only for a minute or two.

But of course, everyone seemed to like foiling my plans lately. “Why don’t you run and grab it?” Mom suggested as she started pouring out the hot drinks. “You’ve earned it fair and square, like always.”

“Err...” I looked towards L, as if I was asking him permission. Well, he was the one who’d suffer from this after all.

But since he’d been a surprisingly good sport with all of this, he simply said, “It’s fine.”

At least I didn’t have to feel guilty about leaving him in their clutches then, I thought to myself as I made my way up the stairs a second time. Particularly Auntie Maggie’s. I went through the first door on my right into her and my mom’s bedroom.

Since I’d moved out, Auntie Maggie could have easily just had my old room to herself. But she always insisted that sharing with my mom was more fun. Mom had never done college or university and had never had a roommate before, so she’d always been just as up for the idea. It was no wonder I had a childish side of my own after growing up with such wacky role models.

I found a gift bag on top of the dresser, like Auntie Maggie had said. Inside it was a fully pose-able Freddy Krueger action figure. I smiled to myself. Nice one, old man. This would look pretty awesome next to the bust I had in my toy corner back home. Better put him with my stuff so that I didn’t forget him once this ‘visit’ was over.

I took Freddy back through to my room and laid him on top of my suitcase. At least that way I’d be sure to remember him. I straightened up and looked around. I’d moved out of here when I was eighteen to go to a better university in Kyoto, but I’d come back for a short period when I’d quit the police force after the whole Teddy Harper ordeal.

I’d only been here for a month or two before I’d wanted to be up and doing something again. I’d had a boyfriend during that time who had certainly helped with the grieving stage, but that relationship had only been short-lived. And by that stage, I’d decided to return to Kyoto once more and do what I’d always dreamed of – becoming an independent detective.

I mostly had good memories of being here, so coming back always made me feel nostalgic. It hadn’t changed much since I’d lived here. There were still a few old posters tacked to the walls – The Cranberries, Back To The Future, Weekend At Bernie’s... There was an empty space above my bed where my signed Tears For Fears one had been. That was the only one that I’d consented to taking with me to Kyoto.

Mom had even left my old Betty Boop bedspread on. I’d never really been a Betty Boop fan like Auntie Maggie had, but I’d always liked her colour scheme. Red was my second favourite colour after green. And it certainly fit the theme I had going on in here. Red on red.

Seeing the bedspread reminded me that I needed to go and get the sleeping bag still. I’d already decided that I’d use that myself and let L have the bed. As an insomniac, he probably wasn’t going to sleep very much, but at least the bed would be comfier than the floor. And he could still sleep then if he wanted to. God knows what he’d actually do during the night time hours... But we’d already agreed that he’d have to stay in my room until morning to keep the pretence up. I knew my family would find it weird if they caught him roaming about the house in the middle of the night.

I decided to grab the sleeping bag whilst I was still upstairs, so I went back out onto the landing and sought out the airing cupboard. The sleeping bag didn’t seem to be in there. I searched through the entire cupboard, but there was definitely no sleeping bag. That was strange. Maybe someone had already taken it out.

I peeked back into Mom and Auntie Maggie’s room again, but it wasn’t in there either. I didn’t know where else it would be, so I figured I’d just go downstairs and ask. I was grateful to see that L had survived whatever had happened after I’d gone upstairs. He actually seemed more interested in his coffee than anything else.

“Hey, has anyone seen the sleeping bag?” I asked, hovering in the doorway.

“Oh, I lent it to Minagi the other day,” Auntie Maggie replied.

“Wait, _what_?”

“Her boys are going camping with the school,” she explained, oblivious to my sudden panic. “She only had the one, so it saves her having to buy another just for one trip.”

I chanced a nervous look at L, but he still didn’t seem to be paying attention. Didn’t he realise that this was going to affect him as much as it did me? _Crap_. I’d known this trip was going to be embarrassing as hell. I wondered if it would come across as weird if I went and bought another sleeping bag before tonight.

If I looked at it from my family’s point of view, then the answer was yes. When had I ever used a sleeping bag just because I had a boyfriend staying over? And my family were clearly happy to confirm that. “Don’t look so freaked out,” said Auntie Maggie. “What do you need a sleeping bag for anyway?”

“You’re an adult, Gee,” Mom added. “We’ve never had an issue with you having anyone stay over before. You don’t need to start worrying about that now. You know the rules still. It’s fine – just remember that it’s your grandpa’s house.”

Which was basically their way of saying that whilst I was under Grandpa’s roof I was okay to share my bed as long as there was nothing else involved. I didn’t think it was possible to blush any deeper. Did anybody else’s families talk this casually about sex in front of their boyfriends? Or pretend boyfriends at that?

“And I’m sure Ryuzaki won’t mind bed sharing,” Auntie Maggie grinned, winking at L.

Okay. I was wrong. I felt more colour rush into my cheeks, made even worse by L finally looking up from his coffee and monotonously agreeing, “That won’t be a problem.”

_What_? I wanted to reach over the table and give him a good shake. I stared at him with wide eyes. What did he mean ‘ _won’t be a problem_ ’? This was still L, wasn’t it? The guy who avoided human contact as much as possible?

I knew he was going along with it for the sake of keeping up the pretence of our false relationship so that we could work freely from here without raising any suspicions, but I’d been hoping he’d use those supposed genius detective skills to come out with some magical solution to the sleeping situation. Unfortunately, no such luck.

Number one detective, my ass. I sure hoped he knew what he was getting us into.

**XXX**

As soon as the first opportunity came up, I excused both myself and L, saying that we were going to spend the afternoon around town. Technically, that wasn’t even a lie.

After we’d gotten away from the house – I’d left my car behind; again grateful that everywhere was easy to get to on foot around here and that I had one less thing to worry about for once – we’d agreed to go and see Shen first before anything else. He’d told me a lot of the details on the phone the other day, but I still wanted to speak to him first hand. I still had more questions. And the longer I could go without having to think of the foreboding sleeping arrangements, the better.

Once we’d made the decision, I’d called ahead to give Shen the heads up that we were coming. He was there to meet us at the door when we got to the morgue and happily let us both in. His greeting to me was a simple pat on the shoulder, despite how long it had been since we’d last seen each other. He had a keep-your-distance rule much like L did. I’d often joked that he preferred handling dead people to live people.

Shen got straight down to business once I’d made the introductions between him and L. And they’d been pretty painful to watch, at that. They’d merely nodded at each other. Yeesh, how did I keep finding these social recluses?

“So I get the feeling I’ve stumbled onto something important,” Shen stated, rather than asked.

I nodded. “We’re already investigating the death of Sunae Michishio. Hopefully, this will be the next step to finding out just _who_ murdered her and stole her identity.”

I didn’t add about any of the other murders. I trusted Shen completely, but it was just a basic detective rule – never share more than you need to. If it wasn’t relevant, then nobody else needed to know. The less people linked to a dangerous case, the better. That was how it always worked.

“In that case, I’m glad to have passed the information along,” said Shen dutifully. “Is there anything else in particular that you need to know?”

“Can you tell us the exact time, or the closest estimation, that Ms. Michishio’s credit card was used?” L asked.

“I’m not aware of an _exact_ time,” Shen confessed. “But my best estimation is that it was on Friday 30th at roughly three in the afternoon.”

I glanced at the clock on the wall opposite. It was already past that time now. If our identity thief happened to frequent the same store again, would they follow a similar pattern? Or was that too much to hope for? Either way, the day still wasn’t old just yet. “And it was the Nisa store in the Kanan area, right? Close to Nagai Park?”

“That’s the one,” Shen confirmed.

“Do you have any idea what was bought with the credit card?” I asked. It likely wouldn’t be relevant, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt either.

Shen shook his head. “I really wasn’t given many details. I was just asked to check the death records and given the reason why.”

“Who was it who asked you to check the death records?” questioned L.

“Superintendent Imadori. He’s the head of our police branch,” said Shen.

Damn, so there were already police involved. Did that mean there was a chance that Gibson knew about this too? Somehow, I had a feeling he wouldn’t be very happy to find out that we were already up here and investigating after he’d closed the case. “So the police are already investigating this now?”

“Not necessarily,” replied Shen.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Sunae Michishio’s name flagged up as an alert since she’d been listed as a possible victim of identity fraud,” Shen explained. “But because she was murdered outside of Osaka, the police here don’t have the level of complete jurisdiction that they’d like. Since it’s fraud, they’re obliged to have it checked out – which is why they asked me to look into the death records – but without the right jurisdiction, they’ll class it as a low priority. It’ll probably be a few days before they even follow it up any further.”

Huh. Well, that was something good at least. We still had a little bit of time to try and find some clues ourselves before the police started investigating this as well. And hopefully, they wouldn’t have informed the police back in Kyoto about it yet. At least not until they’d had Shen confirm the validity of the death records.

“So why exactly did you call _me_?” I had to ask. “Wouldn’t you normally have called the police in Kyoto in this kind of situation?”

“Normally, yes,” Shen agreed. “It was mostly the fact that the woman was murdered in Kyoto. I figured I’d just try you first to see if you’d heard anything about it. And you know even better than I do that you should always follow your whims.”

Tell me about it. “Still, though... You’ve met Gibson before. You know that he generally has the best clue of what’s going on in Kyoto. Better than me anyway.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” L interrupted. “After all, you found out about this case yourself very early on. Especially since it was supposed to be kept secret from anyone outside of the police force.”

Wow, was he actually commending me? That really didn’t happen very often. I almost felt a little cheap that I’d only found out about the case through using my so-called womanly charms on Chad. Though I guessed as long as it got the job done, then any trick of the trade was viable enough. “Err, I guess...” I was still a little thrown that he’d come close to complimenting me.

“Well, like I said, it was just a hunch,” Shen added. “But from the looks of it, I was spot on if I’ve touched onto a case that you’re already working.”

“Yeah. I guess it really is _our_ case.” From the beginning of this whole thing, it had just been me trying to jump in on a case that the police were working. But now, it really _was_ mine and L’s case.

“Gibson close early?” Shen guessed. He’d worked alongside the police in Kyoto enough times to know how Gibson’s mind worked.

I nodded. “We weren’t really in the same mind,” I said, indicating L as well as myself. “So we wanted to try and follow up on a few more things.”

“And there you go. Proving your hunches right, just like I said,” Shen pointed out, looking satisfied.

I smiled. “How do you think I got this far?” So much of my work as a detective came down to whims and lucky guesses that it was a little scary.

“And you’ll go farther still,” Shen smiled back. “Anyway, I hope all this was of some help to you. I wish I could have offered more information...”

“No, no, what you’ve told us has already given us more to go on than what we had originally,” I assured him. “Thank you, really.”

“Yes. You’ve been a great help,” agreed L.

“Well, I hope you’ve enough to solve this,” said Shen. “If I hear of anything else, then I’ll pass it along to you straightaway.”

We thanked Shen again before leaving. Having a more specific time on when Sunae Michishio’s card was used at least gave us a better idea of the situation. Not to mention it gave us something more concrete to work around. With that information, we could hopefully find out more about what staff had been working then and maybe even what sort of customers frequented the store around that time of day.

We headed straight from the morgue down to the Nisa convenience store in Kanan. It wasn’t too far – only about a twenty minute walk. And for once, I was too busy mulling things over to care about the awkward silence between me and L that I usually tried so desperately to break.

When we got to the store, it was obvious that we needed to decide carefully on our next step. Did we just go straight into the store? Or did we hold off on that for now in case our identity thief really was still hanging around and we raised suspicions? We’d likely have a few days of stakeout ahead of us, so now that the store was in our sights, we needed to plan this out properly.

“Here, let’s go over there for now,” I directed. I took L’s arm and directed him over to an empty bus stop a little way down from the store. At least we could stand there and discuss without it looking unnatural, rather than just stopping in the middle of the street.

I noticed L glance down at my hand on his arm. Oops. I guessed I had started to get a bit more hands-on with him recently, particularly since we’d gotten to Osaka. I sure hoped I wasn’t subconsciously starting to buy into the whole boyfriend thing myself.

I quickly let go, feeling sheepish. “Err, sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“It’s fine,” L assured. “It doesn’t bother me.”

Didn’t bother him? Wait, did that mean that it was _okay_? Was he actually giving me permission to be more touchy-feely? Surely he couldn’t be – I must have been reading into it too much. Either way, I didn’t quite feel brave enough to try and find out. And L seemed more interested in the other issue at hand.

“I don’t think we should go into the store today at least,” he said. “We’ve only just got here and this is a small town. Disguises or not, it may become apparent to some people that we’re not from around here. We don’t want it to be obvious that this is our first move upon coming into town.”

“Right,” I agreed. And knowing my luck, we’d probably run into someone I knew. I would not be impressed if our cover was blown after all this. “But I think we should still try and stake out the place from outside whilst we’re here. Even if it’s just for an hour or so.”

“I agree,” said L. He looked up and down the road before deciding on a place we could spy from. For a second, he moved his hand like he was going to take my arm, mimicking my earlier action, but then he seemed to think better of it and just pointed the direction instead. “Back up this way.”

I followed his lead, trying hard not to think about the possibility that maybe he was starting to become more comfortable around me. I managed to ignore it by mentally telling myself that I was being stupid and that it was just wishful thinking on my part.

L had chosen an old-fashioned coffee shop that was on the opposite side of the road to the Nisa convenience store. It was closer to the bus stop we’d just been stood at than the store itself, but we’d still be able to see what we needed to from there. Even better, there were some tables set up outside complete with parasols. We even had cover if we needed it. The only downside was that I’d actually been to this coffee shop before... So I knew that it had notoriously bad hot chocolate.

Under the pretence of looking at the sign listing the rather poor cake menu, we were able to judge which table would give us the best view. And once we’d angled the parasol better, we weren’t all that noticeable ourselves. Now this was a good turn of events that we’d been waiting for.

L stocked up with coffee for the task. I decided that it would be safer for my taste buds if I abstained. It didn’t take long to realise that I’d made the wrong decision. At least terrible hot chocolate would have been a distraction. I thought the drive up to Osaka had been awkward, but it was nothing compared to doing stakeout with L.

The worst part was that it _couldn’t_ be awkward. If we wanted to sit here for a long time and not look suspicious, then we were going to have to do a bit more than sitting in supposed companionable silence. Unfortunately, I seemed to be the only one who’d realised this, so I had to reluctantly take the reins on the conversation.

“So how long exactly have you been a detective for?” L pretty much knew this about me, but he was always reluctant to share things about himself. I’d learnt that the best way was to just ask outright and hope for an answer that at least wasn’t monosyllabic.

“A while,” replied L, stirring more sugar into his second coffee. Yup, we’d been sat in painful silence for that long.

I sighed. It wasn’t monosyllabic, but it certainly wasn’t much better. Though I don’t really know what I’d been expecting. “That’s specific.”

He may not have always got my sarcasm, but in this instance, it wasn’t really difficult. He took a sip from his cup before placing it back on the table. “You already know that I prefer not to talk about myself. Yet you sound surprised?”

“That’s why I was trying to ask about work,” I said with a shrug. “I figured that way, we’d at least have some common ground.”

“Regardless, you’re still asking questions relating to my background.”

I sighed again. He never made it easy, did he? “Well, then what do _you_ want to talk about?”

L looked thoughtful, but apparently, that thought didn’t really amount to anything. “I guess I don’t really know...”

Helpful. Very helpful. God, what I would have given to be doing this stakeout on my own.

The minutes passed and we fell back into silence. I didn’t try to start conversation again. I honestly didn’t care anymore if we looked suspicious or not by sitting here and not saying a word to each other. I didn’t think I’d ever felt more uncomfortable. Could things get any worse?

“Well, I’ll be damned... Never thought I’d see _you_ back at this place.”

Why had I asked? That question always works as a total jinx. I turned in my seat, feeling a strong sense of trepidation, even though I knew who I’d be facing. There was absolutely no mistaking that Southern drawl.

Sure enough, I found Chet Sorbo stood behind me – a wickedly amused look on his handsome face. I’d gotten to know Chet during my second stint in Osaka before I’d returned to Kyoto to become freelance. He was an above-the-law bounty hunter. He was also my ex. You’d think this stuff only happened on TV, wouldn’t you?

“Chet!” I’d turned so quickly that I’d nearly tipped my chair over. “What are you...” I stopped mid question, reminding myself that Chet lived here. It wasn’t that unnatural to bump into him. More just sod’s law.

Chet grinned. “I should be the one asking you that. Especially after how much you complained about how terrible the hot chocolate was here last time.”

I shrugged, trying to sound casual. “Hence why I’m drink free right now.”

Chet’s grin widened and he looked past me towards L, who had several empty sachets of sugar scattered on the table in front of him. “Coffee here’s bitter as hell, huh?”

L nodded. “That’s one way to put it.”

Chet laughed. “So is this your new boyfriend that I gotta be jealous of, Gee?”

“Err...” I felt myself flush yet again today. Why was it always me who got stuck in embarrassing situations like this? Granted, Chet was the only guy I’d actually broken up with on good terms, but bumping into an ex is always awkward, no matter the break-up situation. Especially when you were supposedly out with another guy.

“Yes, I am,” L cut in, probably worried that I was going to blow the whole thing. Well, come on, I’d hardly anticipated something like this. And if anything, his input just made me feel even more embarrassed.

Thankfully, Chet didn’t notice anything odd. In fact, he seemed as good-natured as ever. “Nice to meet you, man. Name’s Chet.” He did one of those weird guy greetings – bumping his chest with his fist and then saluting with a peace sign – the kind of thing that only very few guys can actually get away with.

“I’m Ryu,” replied L. 

_Ryu_? Was he trying to sound cool or something? Then to my absolute amazement, he actually tried to awkwardly copy the chest bump and salute move. I had to turn away and bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. _What had just happened?_ This whole embarrassing situation was totally worth it just to have seen that.

“You alright there, Gee?” asked Chet.

I managed to compose myself enough to keep a straight face. “I’m fine,” I said unconvincingly.

Chet clearly misinterpreted my expression. “Oh, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things awkward or anything...”

“Oh, no, it’s not like that,” I said, even though I agreed that this was the very definition of awkward.

“It’s cool. Don’t worry,” Chet assured. “I’m just grabbin’ some coffee myself and I’ll be outta your hair.”

I raised my eyebrows. “This so-called bitter as hell coffee?”

He grinned in response. “Well, when you add a bit of Irish magic to it, it actually has a pretty good kick.”

I just rolled my eyes. Now _that_ was why our relationship hadn’t lasted. I enjoyed a good drink now and then... Whereas Chet enjoyed a good drink at least three times a day. And he clearly still wasn’t ready to compromise on that. But it was fine. We’d accepted it early on and that’s why we’d ended on such good terms. Well... As good as can be when it comes to break-ups.

“I see you rollin’ your eyes at me there, missy. Remember, you don’t get a say anymore.” Chet waggled his finger at me, still grinning. “Oh, hey, did you get my present by the way? I wasn’t sure if it’d get to you in time.”

“Present?” I repeated, my mind automatically wandering towards the pretty perfume bottle that I’d gotten in the mail. From another ex. Urgh. Why was my love life so messed up?

“Y’know, the little hand-sized gadget that packs a pretty punch just like someone we all know?” Chet hinted.

Realisation dawned on me. “Are you talking about the _gun_?”

Chet’s face brightened. “So you did get it! Did you like it?”

I was flabbergasted. “Do you have any idea how dangerous and unethical it is to send me a _gun_ in the post? Anybody could have gotten their hands on it!”

“Have I ever been ethical?” Chet pointed out, completely unfazed. “And it clearly got straight to you anyway, so no harm done.”

I settled for just shaking my head rather than commenting further. I guessed I couldn’t say that it wasn’t typical of him. Putting aside the fact that he was a bounty hunter, rules and regulations didn’t really mean anything to him and his devil-may-care attitude like they would to most people.

“And you didn’t answer the important question,” Chet pressed. “Did you _like_ it?”

“Well, I haven’t used it yet,” I said. “I need to go and get it licensed first.”

“Nah, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“ _Yes_ , I do,” I insisted. Just because he thought he was above the law didn’t mean that the rest of us felt that way. “Why exactly did you send me a gun anyway? You know I always use the Browning.”

“I happened to commandeer it a few weeks ago...” said Chet. I scoffed – ‘commandeer’ could only mean one thing. “But it’s too small; I look ridiculous with it. I figured it’d suit you much better.”

“Oh, thanks,” I said sarcastically.

“Well, you can always mail it back to me if you don’t want it,” Chet suggested, his eyes twinkling.

“No, I still want it,” I said somewhat childishly. It was true. I really had been itching to give it a try. But I wasn’t Chet – it definitely needed to be licensed first.

Chet laughed. “Then you’re welcome.”

I grinned back. “I’ll let you know what it can do when I get round to testing it out.”

“Excellent,” Chet beamed. He cracked his knuckles. “Right, I’m gonna go get me some caffeine, so I’ll catch you kids another time. Nice meeting you, Ryu.”

“Oh, you too,” replied L, a little taken aback by Chet’s cheery nature.

I supposed it was a little unusual. Most ex-boyfriends wouldn’t be altogether happy to meet the new supposed ‘boyfriend’. But that was just Chet. He was an all-around friendly guy. He was also the only guy I’d dated who’d never actively wronged me in any way. But I’d known my work life would be complicated enough once I’d become a detective – I wouldn’t have had the time to spare worrying over an alcoholic.

“Maybe we should go too,” I suggested once Chet had disappeared inside the coffee shop. I didn’t really want a repeat incident of this and it was starting to get late.

“Alright,” agreed L, getting up. “I guess I didn’t really expect to get any results already. We can try again tomorrow.”

“Exactly,” I said, following suit. I then grinned. “Let’s go then... _Ryu_.”

**XXX**

I admit that I didn’t really let go of the whole Ryu thing for the rest of the night. But then I was purposely looking for anything to occupy my mind with to stop myself from fretting over the whole sleeping arrangement. By now, everyone else had already gone to bed and since Grandpa slept downstairs – and could hear _everything_ – we had no choice but to do the same.

“I don’t see what’s so funny about it,” said L, as we made our way up the stairs.

“You just seemed to be trying too hard to be cool,” I replied, still amused.

“I wasn’t trying to be anything. I was merely blending in.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure you were,” I muttered to myself. I opened the door to my room, feeling the awkwardness of the situation hit all of a sudden. Oh, man, this was not going to be fun. “Um, I’m just gonna go and get changed.”

“Alright,” said L, sounding as uninterested as always.

I quickly retrieved my new fruit-print pyjamas from my suitcase and hurried down the hallway to the bathroom so that I could change out of my clothes. I felt very edgy. I didn’t know whether I wanted to hurry or take my time. It was only when I’d spent two minutes trying to pull the pyjama bottoms over my head that I had to stop and tell myself to get a grip.

Why was I getting so worked up over this? It wasn’t like anything was going to happen. I was simply going to go to sleep and L most likely... wouldn’t. I doubted he’d even lie down, knowing him. He’d probably just sit up all night.

I managed to snap out of it by reminding myself that this was case related only and that I had to be professional about it. I’d let my feelings get in the way enough times already, but not anymore. I was going to be as good a detective as L was. Or at least not as weak-willed as I secretly wanted to be right now.

Once I managed to get the right clothes on the right body parts, I hastily brushed my teeth before returning to my bedroom. I couldn’t help but hesitate outside the door that L had shut behind me. Good luck with this one, Gee, I told myself ruefully.


	17. Every Little Helps

I know I’d told myself to stop wigging out, but that was a lot easier said than done.

“Do you have any books?”

“Books?” I repeated. L’s question at least distracted me a little.

“Yes,” replied L. “As you know, I don’t sleep all that much. And we agreed that we can’t carry out any work from here in case your family discovers anything, so I’d like to have something else to occupy my time with whilst you’re asleep.”

I wished he’d said something sooner. I could have brought some books with me that would be more suited to his tastes. As it was, I didn’t have any books here anymore since they were all at my own home now and the only ones that I’d brought with me were the Georgina Kincaid ones. He definitely wouldn’t be interested in those.

“Err, I have a couple in my suitcase, but I really don’t think you’d like them,” I said apologetically.

“That’s fine. Anything will do,” said L.

Oh, crap. I hadn't expected that response. “But they’re later ones in a series,” I pointed out. “You wouldn’t know what’s going on.”

“I’m sure my imagination will be able to fill in enough of the blanks,” answered L. “I doubt I’ll get invested in them anyway – it’ll just be something to do.”

What kind of stupid way to read books was that? I’d never pick up the third book in a series and think ‘oh that’s okay; I can probably guess what’s happened up until now’. How was that supposed to be fun?

“But...” I cast around for another excuse. The more I thought about it, the more I really didn’t want L to read these books.

I’d originally thought that Kay had gotten them for me simply because of the relevance of Georgina’s name. But after reading more, I’d strongly felt that he’d had another motive in mind – one purely to embarrass me. I genuinely did love the characters and the plotline, but I had to admit that the books had one too many detailed sex scenes for my liking. That was not something I wanted L to think I enjoyed reading.

“But they’re urban fantasy,” I decided to go with. “Somehow I get the feeling that fantasy’s not really your thing...”

“That’s not a problem. It’s still better than nothing,” L insisted.

_Crap_. I wished I’d just lied and said straightaway that I didn’t have any books with me. L was so insistent that I couldn’t really refuse now, especially since I knew that he wouldn’t have anything else to do all night. Well, if he ended up eternally disturbed by the graphic birds and the bees scenes, then it was his own fault for being so damn persistent.

“Err, okay. If you say so,” I said reluctantly, retrieving the books from my suitcase. “Here.”

“Thank you.”

And that was it. We were officially out of conversation now. The word ‘bedtime’ had never seemed so foreboding. “So, err...” I inclined my head awkwardly towards the bed. “How, um, do you wanna do this?”

"Well, I'll be more likely to get up during the night than you will, so if you sleep on the side closest to the wall, then I shouldn't disturb you," said L, as toneless as ever.

Made sense. Saved him having to climb over me if he wanted to move. I tried not to blush at the idea. "Err, okay. Right then..."

I switched off the light switch on the wall, leaving only the duller glow from the bedside lamp. I had no choice now but to climb into bed. I was glad I'd already stuffed Jerry in between the covers - poor Blue had had to remain in my suitcase since I hadn't expected to be bed sharing. There just wasn't enough room for _all_ of us. I slid under the duvet quickly, scooching over as close to the wall as I could.

L climbed up onto the other side of the bed, making me aware just how small it really was. He'd taken the hoody off, but was otherwise still fully dressed. Did he ever change clothes? To his credit, he did actually sit normally this time. Even he probably knew it was better to keep his quirky habits at bay whilst we were staying here. I hadn't even had to tell him. He could have a brownie point for that.

"So you don't mind if I leave the lamp on?" asked L, the Georgina Kincaid books still in his hands.

"No, that's fine," I said. From where he was sitting, he'd block most of the light from the lamp. Not to mention I was indefinitely planning on facing the wall all night.

"Alright. Goodnight then."

"Err, yeah. Night..."

I rolled over to face the other way, clutching Jerry to my chest with both hands and determinedly shutting my eyes tight. Somehow, I had a feeling that it wasn't going to help much. It was going to be a long night.

**XXX**

Unsurprisingly, I didn't sleep at all well. When I woke up the following morning, I felt groggy and even more tired than I had before. Stupid L. I was just going to blame him for it. Without telling him, of course.

Speaking of L... Where was he? I sat up in bed. He'd disappeared. The stripy hoody had also gone from where it had been left on my old desk chair. Great. He couldn't have even waited till I'd woken up. I sure hoped he was still trying to be normal, wherever he'd wandered off to.

I scrambled out of bed and hastily made my way downstairs. I wasn't sure what I was more worried about - L's impression on my family or my family's impression on L. I probably shouldn't have worried for L's sake though. It may have been early, but I knew that Auntie Maggie would have already left for work. Mom and Grandpa were harmless in comparison to her.

I was surprised to find L in the kitchen, still fully dressed - though minus his shoes, like usual. Well, I guessed people wouldn't find it that odd seeing as he was indoors - even if the house was more Westernised. And at least he was sitting normally again. Maybe I needn't have worried after all. I guessed that when it came down to it, the detective side of him still outweighed the habitual side.

"Morning," I greeted in what I hoped was an offhand way as I sat down in the seat opposite. "You in here by yourself?"

"Actually, I was just talking to your mother. She was in here a few minutes ago," replied L.

Eek. "Oh." I didn't know what else to say to that. I dreaded to think what they could have possibly been talking about.

"I wasn't originally intending to come downstairs, but she asked me if I wanted tea once I'd gotten out of the shower," L added.

Huh. He'd showered already? No wonder he seemed a lot more fresh than I felt right now. I kinda forgot that he still did human things like showering. But then it was fairly easy to do seeing as he never seemed to actually change clothes. Though I could hardly talk when I was now very aware that _I_ was unwashed and still in my pyjamas.

"Oh, Gee, I thought I heard you." Mom stuck her head around the kitchen door. "I was just coming back in to make some toast. Do you guys want any?"

"No, thank you." L was the first to respond.

"Are you sure?" Mom scrutinised him with a concerned look, no doubt worrying about his skinny figure. L just nodded, so she then turned to me. "Gee?"

"No, thanks; I'm just about to go shower," I replied, smothering a yawn. "We'll get something to eat when we're out."

"Oh, so where are the two of you off to today then?" she asked interestedly.

"Just downtown to do some shopping," I said casually. I always felt I deserved extra kudos for telling lies that were actually partly true. Sadly, I hadn't gotten a 'well done' for it yet.

"That sounds nice. But make sure you do have something to eat. Remember, breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"Okay, okay, I will," I promised as another yawn crept up on me.

Mom frowned. "Are you alright? You look really tired."

"I'm fine; I just didn't sleep great," I said with a shrug. It wasn't really that unusual.

"You know, you should take some sleeping pills if you're having trouble sleeping again," Mom suggested. "They're still in the cabinet from the last time you were using them."

" _Mom_ , it's fine. Really. It's just a one-off thing," I insisted. Geez, why were moms always so... mom-ish? I really didn't want to admit that I only hadn't been able to sleep properly because L had made me feel nervous as hell.

Thankfully, she let me off the hook after that and I was able to escape to go and shower. "I'll be five minutes," I told L, who conceded that it was fine with an unconcerned expression.

I didn't think I'd ever showered so quickly. Which was probably just as well, because I remembered afterwards that Emiiya had told me I needed to blow dry my hair after washing it if I wanted it to fall back into the new style she'd created for me. Damn. It was so much quicker to let it dry naturally rather than having to faff with the blow dryer, but detectives in disguise couldn't really be choosers.

After sorting my hair, I snuck through to my bedroom, still wrapped in my towel, and quickly rifled through my suitcase. I looked longingly at my favourite red top with the attached mesh vest, before reminding myself that it was the same one I'd worn when we'd broken into Jin Tanaka's office. Yeah, probably better to avoid that one.

Instead, I grabbed an Apple Jacks t-shirt, my leather grey skirt and my trusty black boots. I fixed my gun holster into place and covered it with an old wolf hoody that Kay had given me. It was cute and had long sleeves that reached down over my hands, complete with thumb holes and paw prints where my palms were. It was maybe a little childish at my age, but at least less conspicuous than my trench coat.

I put on my glasses, stuffed my iPhone and wallet into the pockets of the hoody, then gave myself a quick and completely innocent - I swear - douse with my NYC perfume. I was now good to go. It may have taken me closer to fifteen minutes than five, but it was still pretty good by most girls' standards.

Luckily for me, I think L was far too apathetic to suffer from impatience. He probably hadn't even noticed how long I'd been. Not that I was complaining. If I was going to be the one slowing us down, then I'd prefer it if he didn't realise.

He was still waiting in the kitchen for me, though he now had a pair of beaten-up old sneakers on his feet. "Ready?" I asked

"Yes," replied L, getting up. "Let's go."

The walk down to the convenience store was awkwardly silent, yet again, but this time I was too busy planning inside my head to really care. We'd already agreed that today we'd actually go inside the store under the pretence of browsing so that we could snoop around and try to find some clues.

We had to be extra careful now on the off-chance that our identity thief was still around, in case we scared them away - or worse, got ourselves knee-deep into trouble. And considering my track record on this case so far, that wasn't altogether unlikely.

I decided that if we didn't have any luck today and had to come back tomorrow, then I'd have to find a substitute for the hoody I'd given to L. Though it was less conspicuous than his usual look, it would probably start to look obvious if he wore it three days in a row around here. I'd possibly have to try and nab something of Grandpa's. Or even Auntie Maggie's if push came to shove. She had a very tomboyish fashion style at least.

I was happy to note that it wasn't just me who was taking the situation so seriously. L actually looked like he'd attempted to tame his hair himself this morning. It still wasn't exactly... err, neat, but it was a little less noticeable than usual. I was a bit tempted to lick my hand and try to smooth it down more, but somehow I didn't think he'd appreciate it. Plus I didn't think his hair was actually going to cause any problems - it was just me going all perfectionist.

"How long do you think we have?" I asked L once we were nearing the Nisa store.

"Judging by the size of the store, I'd say roughly about fifteen to twenty minutes at the most," replied L. "We don't want to linger too long in case it raises any suspicions, but then we want to make the most of the situation too."

"Right," I agreed. I couldn't fault any of that logic. "Do you think we should split up once we're inside so we can cover more of the store between us?"

"No," said L. "After all the trouble you've gotten into so far, I think it's imperative that we stick together."

I frowned. I didn't like the fact that he was putting all the blame on me. Not to mention I could spot a rather large hole in his plan. "But surely we'll be more conspicuous with the two of us wandering around?"

L just fixed me with what was a rather pointed look for him. "We agreed that we were doing this together, so we're going to do it together."

Geez, he was tetchy today. What was up with that? This only furthered my theory that guys suffered from PMS too. I guessed he didn't trust me not to run off and play vigilante detective by myself again. He'd already made it crystal clear that he hadn't forgotten about me doing so in the past.

"Fine then," I agreed with a shrug.

Personally, I thought that if we had to frequent this store all week, then we were going to start looking a bit obvious - and like L had said, it wasn't a big building. But then he was supposedly the world's best detective, so I guessed I had to trust his judgement on this. Hey, maybe now I was the paranoid one.

I casually grabbed a green basket from the stack just inside as we walked through the doors. I noticed L shoot me another look. "What?"

"You do realise we're not actually here to shop, don't you?" he said quietly.

"Actually, yes, we are," I corrected him in an undertone. "Do you think it's normal for people to come into a store like this, walk round the whole shop floor and then leave without buying anything? We can't do that if we want to blend in."

It was called a convenience store for a reason, after all - it was a quick and easy place for people to pick up their necessities; not just wander around and browse. Had L never been in a store like this before? Hang on, why was I even asking that? Of course he hadn't. He didn't even seem to like venturing outside for the most part.

But he at least conceded with me on this one and allowed me to take the reins with the basket. So now we were apparently just your everyday shopping couple. Oh, yay.

I was going to work this one to my advantage though. After the poor night's sleep I'd had, I was dying for an energy drink. Plus going through the actual buying process would give me a better opportunity to try and check out the area behind the checkout. Short of getting into the staff room, which was obviously unlikely seeing as we'd have no reason to be in there, it was going to be the best place to try and pick up something useful.

So when we found our way onto the drinks aisle, I neatly swiped several cans of the cheap energy drink variety into the basket. Mom would not have been impressed if she'd been here (I may have told her that I'd kicked the habit ages ago). And as it went, it didn't go unnoticed by L either. "You drink a lot of those."

I raised my eyebrows - I couldn't help it - this was going to be a serious case of the pot calling the kettle black if he started chastising me for it. My energy drink addiction was nothing compared to _his_ sweet tooth. "And?"

And apparently nothing. L simply shrugged. "I was just making an observation."

My eyebrows rose even further. "I'm not sure if that's an observation worthy of your title."

L actually had the nerve to roll his eyes at me. He'd clearly picked up on the sarcasm this time. Bully for him. "Actually, I was simply trying to make conversation so we look more natural."

_He_ was trying to make conversation? Whether it was work related or not, the world must have been ending. "Could have fooled me," I muttered to myself. Stating that I drank a lot of energy drinks - something that even a child could have picked up on - didn't seem like much of a conversation to me.

He did have a point though and I was glad that he was looking at it from that aspect too. He certainly hadn't seemed to have cared when we'd been doing stakeout the day before. But we did need something to mask the fact that we were walking around and paying close attention to literally _everything_. That's the thing when you don't know what it is exactly that you're looking for. You have to take in everything that you can to compensate for it. 

The locations of any surveillance cameras and if they looked like they may have been rearranged at all recently in order to possibly cover up something. The behaviour of each and every member of staff - were they suspicious? _Too_ casual? New to the team? Old time workers? Was there anything else about them that could suggest possible swindler, identity thief or serial killer?

I made sure I paid my utmost attention to absolutely everything that my eyes and mind could comprehend. Beside me, I knew that L would be doing the same. A few sneaky sideway glances at him confirmed that. Behind his bangs, his eyes never rested - darting from side to side and taking in every single thing around him. Yet his face gave nothing away other than the fact that he looked like a mildly bored shopper.

I still didn't understand why he rarely worked out in the field and chose instead to act on everything from behind a computer screen. He was so _good_ at this. And it was instances like these that reminded me that I was actually working alongside the greatest detective in the _world_. When he was just being his usual neurotic, eccentric self, it was quite easy to forget that.

As we'd been doing the whole walking and observing deal, I'd grabbed a few more random things off the shelves and added them to the basket. One: it hid my obvious taurine addiction a little. Two: the more that was in there, the longer we'd be at the checkout. And the more time we'd have to spy on anything that could possibly be hiding behind it.

I unhelpfully tipped the contents of the basket onto the counter. I felt a little bad for the checkout girl that I was forcing to sort through it, but that little trick meant that she was going to take even longer. Which, in turn, gave us more of a chance to try and have a peek behind her.

I scanned the wall opposite and the desk in front of her, hoping there might be some kind of rota or employee list on display. We weren't that lucky. The only notices that were stuck up were two stating that you had to be over the age of twenty-one to buy alcohol and one advertising lottery tickets.

The girl serving us was only in her late teens. She was mildly pretty and dressed in fairly average clothing. Nothing suggesting that she either needed money or had suddenly commandeered a small fortune. She was friendly enough, but not overly friendly - just the right level of warmth you'd expect from a checkout assistant. Not in the slightest bit suspicious.

The only other person serving was a guy who was probably about a good three or four years older than the girl. He wasn't quite as friendly as she was, but not exactly grumpy either. He seemed a little restless and I watched him check his watch twice in the space of several minutes. He was clearly due to go on break soon.

Neither of them seemed particularly suspicious. But we had more time to come back and decide on that further - not to mention hopefully check out some other staff too. I hadn't really expected to have much success on our first excursion inside the store.

I thanked the checkout girl as she helped to stuff everything into a plastic bag, more enthusiastically than I probably would have done normally. But hey, I still felt bad for making things more awkward for her. Personally, I wouldn't be able to stand working in a place like this. At least with my job, I could generally get away with talking back to people if they were ever rude or annoying.

My eyes followed everything that went into the bag. I hadn't really been paying that much attention to what I'd been shoving into the basket. I could remember grabbing some bread and a pack of ramen noodles, in an attempt to make it look like an everyday shop for general necessities, but that was about all I could recall.

Several bags of sweets and cakes seemed to have also made it in there as well. I could accept the cakes, but I wasn't a huge fan of the hard-boiled sweets that had joined the shopping list. Had I really just subconsciously picked those up for a certain detective who did like such sweets? Maybe I'd just choose to believe that L had slipped them in when I hadn't been looking.

"Let's go and get some coffee," L decided as soon as we left the store.

"Yeah, okay," I agreed. "Good idea."

It was the best plan we had right now. At least watching the front of the store from across the street was better than just giving up and going home for the day. If we went back into the store on the same day, then it was definitely going to look odd.

L went to get some coffee whilst I grabbed a free table with the best view of the Nisa store. He clearly hadn't been put off enough by how terrible the coffee had apparently been yesterday. Personally, I still wasn't ready to resign myself to the god-awful hot chocolate just yet. Plus I had several energy drinks in the plastic bag that were just calling my name right now.

I waited till L came back though before cracking the first one open. I didn't want to be one of those people that sat in cafés without buying anything. I felt that having L with his coffee let me off the hook. I noted that he'd picked up what had to be a double figure amount of sugar sachets. Huh. Maybe he wasn't over the taste of the coffee after all.

"What exactly do those taste like?"

I glanced up over the rim of the can, surprised that L had been the first one to try and start conversation again. "You've never tried a Red Bull or anything before?" He shook his head. "Erm... It kind of has its own taste really - I wouldn't know how to describe it. Sweet, I guess?"

How was I supposed to answer that? It was like asking what a pineapple tasted like. Pineapple flavour. Simple. And energy drinks were just... energy drink flavour?

"I see."

I hesitantly held the can out. "You wanna try?"

He just looked at me. He probably didn't expect me to be so forthcoming about sharing my main vice (well, who could blame him - he should be grateful I was even offering). And I guessed that with his level of OCD and numerous weird quirks, it wouldn't exactly be surprising for him to come over all germaphobic over the idea of drinking from the same can.

But then he actually outstretched his hand. "Alright."

Wow. Okay then. Hadn't seen that one coming. I passed the cold can over, actually a little reluctant to part with it. But at the same time, I was interested to see what would happen. Would his first little bit of energy drink be enough to make the world famous L bounce off the walls?

I watched as he lightly put the can to his lips and took a sip. He then noticed me looking and lowered it. "Are you waiting for something to happen?"

"Hey, you never know. Supposedly, Red Bull gives you wings," I joked.

He just looked at me blankly. He clearly had no idea what I was talking about. I suppose it didn't really help that the can wasn't actually Red Bull. He passed it back to me. "It's not bad," he said lightly.

What a boring opinion. Oh. well, more for me. I guessed I shouldn't have been surprised that it wouldn't have any effect on him. With the amount of caffeine and sugar he already consumed from his endless intake of sweets and coffee, L clearly wasn't a stranger to the sugar rush phenomenon.

I pressed the can to my own lips, trying not to think about the fact that L's had touched it only moments before. I really, _really_ didn't need to be thinking about the idea of indirect kissing right now.

"Do you have them because you need them?"

I looked up, confused. It took me a few moments to realise that he was talking about the energy drinks. "Oh. Well, generally, I crave the taste more than the actual effects. But I guess it works both ways." On this occasion, most definitely.

L could clearly tell that part too. "Like today, for instance," he added. Damn, did I really look that tired?

"Yeah. Maybe I'll take my mom's advice and have half a sleeping pill or something tonight," I mused aloud. I'd rather not have to resort to that, but I would if it was going to continue being a problem. I didn't want my observational abilities to start suffering from it.

"I never realised you struggled with insomnia as well," said L. He didn't exactly look sympathetic, but I had a feeling that the intention was there. Maybe.

"Well, I don't really..." I said awkwardly. This was going to get into uncomfortable territory if I had to explain that my only problem right now was just that sharing a bed with him made me super tense. "It just takes me a little while to adjust to sleeping somewhere else, that's all."

"Your mother seemed to suggest that you had worse problems with it in the past," L pointed out.

"Oh. That was after I quit the police force," I explained. "I kinda lost heart in the job after Teddy Harper was killed. I came back here to live with my family again for a while. Before I decided to still try and make it as a detective."

"It must have been rough."

I gave an awkward half shrug. I wasn't trying to get the sympathy vote here or anything. "That's just the kind of thing you have to accept in lines of work like this."

"That is true," L agreed, now stirring what looked like a tonne of sugar into his coffee. Okay, slight exaggeration maybe, but still. How did the guy not have a mouth full of cavities?

With that, the conversation then petered out again and we were left in one of our infamous awkward silences. What a surprise. This was beginning to feel like a routine. You'd have thought we'd have made at least some progress on the conversation front by now. Not to mention this also felt like an agonising repeat of how the stakeout had gone down yesterday.

I just had to hope I didn't have another ex show up this time. Knowing my luck as of late, that was a definite possibility.

"It's been more than five years now," L suddenly piped up. I looked at him, confused, and he added, "Since I've been a detective."

I had no idea what that was supposed to have to do with anything. "Err, what?"

"You asked me yesterday how long I'd been a detective for and I was reluctant to answer," L reminded me blankly. "So now I'm narrowing it down for you."

I stared at him, bemused. My first thought was that he wasn't really narrowing it down that much, but that was swiftly overwhelmed by the fact that he was actually offering me information about himself, however vague it was. How often did _that_ happen?

"Well, no wonder you're so much better than me," I teased. "I've only been doing this for two years."

"It's not really a question of time," L pointed out.

"Oh, thanks," I said sarcastically. Way to beat me down. But then I realised that he looked like he was actually trying not to smile. "Okay, very funny. For all you know, I could have a raging complex about being second fiddle."

"And do you?"

"Hey, you never know," I said lightly. "Why don't you ask me again after we see who can solve this case first."

"Alright. It's a deal."

**XXX**

Despite considering it as a possibility earlier on, I didn't take even half a sleeping pill that night. I really did want it to be a final resort. Hell, L was a full-on insomniac and he never had to use them. Though the permanent shadows underlining his eyes suggested that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea. As the day had gone on, I'd noticed that he too had looked even more tired than usual. If that was actually possible.

I soon learnt that I'd made the wrong decision. I slept even more fitfully than I had the night before and every time I did eventually manage to get to sleep, I then woke up not long after feeling more disorientated than before. Not to mention I was fed up of having to sleep facing one way. But I refused to roll over. God forbid I'd start drooling in my sleep or something embarrassing like that.

But when I woke again after dozing off for the fifth time, I felt so stiff and cramped up that I had to risk turning to face the other way, even if only for a few minutes. I'd apparently been worrying for nothing, because I rolled over to an empty bed again.

Confused and still feeling half asleep, I groped under my pillow for where I'd been keeping my iPhone. The bright display stung my eyes, but when I squinted, I was just able to make out the time. It was coming up to two o'clock. Morning, of course. So where had L gotten to now? He must have gone to the bathroom. I guessed he was human after all.

I sat up, scratching my head. Now that I was awake _again_ , I could do with a drink. And at least this was my perfect opportunity to get up without having to disturb L from his night-time reading. I glanced at the Georgina Kincaid books on the nightstand as I clambered out of bed. I hadn't actually asked L what he'd thought of them so far. I wasn't sure I really wanted to know.

I quietly made my way downstairs, stopping only to push my feet into a plush pair of slippers that Auntie Maggie always left out in the hallway for when she woke up. The bare kitchen floor was usually freezing on a morning. I flicked the lights on, then almost had a heart attack when I realised that L was sat at the table.

"Jesus... Don't _do_ that!" I protested, feeling my heart thumping in my chest.

"I didn't do anything," said L, completely oblivious to the aneurysm he'd just nearly given me.

Good grief, give me strength... "What on earth are you doing sitting here in the dark?"

"I came down for a glass of water," replied L, indicating the half-empty tumbler that was sat on the table in front of him. He didn't bother to enlighten me on the 'in the dark' half of the question.

"Oh. Right." Maybe I needed to stop worrying so much about him roaming around the house. It wasn't that unusual for someone to want a drink in the middle of the night. Though it was still a bit weird for them to sit alone in the dark. Come on, we had electricity for a reason.

"What about you?" asked L. "Are you still having trouble sleeping?"

"Err... No. Not really," I lied. "I just came to get a drink too."

Partly to prove my point, I padded over to the sink and reached up to grab a glass from the overhanging shelf above. I'd only just lifted it down when it slipped completely through my fingers. It bounced off the edge of the sink, smashing on impact and slicing my finger as I'd tried to catch it.

" _Shit_!" I cursed louder than I would have liked, as glass shattered across the floor. My attempts to play catch had clearly made things worse. A thin line of blood started to trickle down my hand. Dammit.

I was just glancing round for something to try and stop the bleeding when L abruptly joined my side, catching my hand lightly but firmly and inspecting my finger up close. "Hmm, it doesn't look _too_ deep... You should be able to get away with not having stitches." His voice was lacking any emotion, like always.

"Good or I think I'd have to pass," I said casually, still looking for some kind of tourniquet. I wasn't a big fan of needles. Or hospitals, for that matter.

"Afraid of needles?" asked L, picking the thought straight out of my head. He looked almost amused. He then produced a tea towel seemingly out of nowhere and wrapped it deftly around my hand. How the hell did he always manage to do things without me noticing? He really must have been a vampire in another life. Or a stage magician.

And I didn't really want to answer his question. Only little kids were supposed to be scared of needles; not me. I looked down at the floor, away from L's never-blinking gaze, and frowned. As always, he was barefoot. "You should put something on your feet," I scolded, meeting his gaze again. "There's glass everywhere!"

"I'll be fine," L assured me swiftly, bypassing the rebuke. "And more importantly, I really do think you should try and get some sleep."

I sighed. I couldn't possibly disagree with him now. I really wasn't one to needlessly drop things. I'd told myself that I'd only resort to sleeping pills if the lack of sleep issue started to hinder my abilities. If it was making me this careless, then that was a pretty big sign that I was close enough to that point.

I wasn't the only one having problems. With L this close to me - still holding the towel tight around my hand - I could see that the dark circles beneath his eyes were even more pronounced than ever. He may have been fairly used to insomnia, but there was only so long the body could handle a lifestyle without sleep.

"I think you should too," I said, more softly. How much weight did the world's greatest detective actually bear on those hunched-over shoulders, if he never got to enjoy a simple luxury like sleep?

He actually looked surprised. "Me?"

I didn't get to elaborate further, because a gruff voice suddenly cut into the room, "Hey, is everything alright?"

I turned to find Grandpa standing in the doorway, wearing his rather horrible maroon robe - tied the wrong way round as usual. I was relieved to see that his worn-out old slippers were covering his feet. "Sorry, Gramps, I just broke a glass. Don't worry - I'll clean it up."

Grandpa just scoffed at me and shuffled into the room. "I don't know what you kids have been doing today, Gee, but you look bushed. I'll clean this mess up. You go back upstairs."

"Oh. No, it's fine really," I tried to insist, but the old man cut me off again.

"No buts, girl. Don't be silly - I can take care of it," he assured me, taking in the tea towel that I was still wearing like an odd boxing glove. "You go clean up that hand and then get some sleep." He gave L a pointed look. "You too, laddie. Start getting some more shut-eye if you don't want those black bags to become permanent."

"Err, yes, sir," said L, looking a little taken aback. I had to stop myself from giggling. I was betting that Watari had never put him in his place like that before.

Grandpa looked pleased that at least someone wasn't going to argue back. "Then scoot. Both of you."

We both did as we were told and scuttled out of the kitchen. I was glad to see that L did take care not to step on any glass. It would be even worse if I had a duff hand and he had a duff foot. As it was, I was sure I'd only need a band-aid for my minor injury. But even so, I was still glad that it wasn't my shooting hand.

I told L I was just going to grab the medical kit from the bathroom, but he followed me in anyway. I thought that was a little awkward until I realised that he actually just wanted to help. "Here," he offered, as I awkwardly tried to peel open a band-aid with one hand. "Let me do it."

"Oh, um, thanks..."

I unwrapped the towel from around my hand and tossed it into the wash basket in the corner. I washed my finger under the tap first before L fixed the band-aid into place. It still stung quite a bit, but I knew it was just like a paper cut - i.e. it felt worse than it actually was.

"I still think that you should take your mother's advice from this morning too," L told me, as I stuffed the medical kit back under the sink. Wow, since when had he become the bossy one here?

"Don't worry; I'm way ahead of you," I agreed, opening the mirrored cabinet by the door and pulling out the small bottle of sleeping pills. I tipped one out into my hand. "I'm only gonna take half of one though. It should be enough - I don't want to be feeling lethargic still tomorrow."

"That sounds fair," replied L, watching as I forced my fingernail into the groove that ran across the round white pill, breaking it into two.

Thankfully, he'd been smart enough to bring his half a glass of water with him, which he obligingly handed to me. At least now I didn't have to ungracefully drink straight from the tap. I took a grateful swig of water to help me swallow the pill, before passing it back to L.

"Thanks," I said. Then, making a decision and steeling myself for what was sure to be an argumentative response, I held out the other half of the sleeping pill. "But I think you should take half too."

L glanced down at the pill in my hand, then back up at me with an unreadable expression on his face. "I don't take sleeping medication."

"Really? I never would have guessed," I said sarcastically, before reminding myself that sarcasm probably wasn't the best route to take. "But I'm serious. I don't like taking these things either, but I'm willing to do it because I don't want to risk the possibility that my abilities could suffer for it and that I could be holding us back. So I think you should do the same. Plus half a pill really isn't going to kill you."

I knew it was a bit of a low blow, but somehow, I had a feeling that L wouldn't consent to it if I asked him to do it simply for my benefit. Plus he really did look exhausted right now. And if it was because he'd been thrown into the deep end of a completely strange environment, then that made it my fault, seeing as it had been my idea in the first place.

He continued to stare at me with that same unfathomable look for so long that I didn't think he was even going to bother responding. But then he eventually conceded with a brusque, "Fine." He took the pill from my hand and downed it with the remainder of the tumbler's contents.

"Thank you," I said appreciatively.

At least he hadn't made too big a deal out of it. Though I realised then that that probably wasn't the hardest part. Now I'd have to convince him that he'd need to actually lie down this time if he didn't want to wake up tomorrow with a stiff neck. And how was I going to do _that_ without getting embarrassed about the idea myself?

Something was telling me that, sleeping pills or not, this was still going to be another long night.


	18. Social Protocol

I woke up in what I was guessing was early hours, feeling very warm and disorientated. I didn't open my eyes straightaway, reminding myself that I wasn't at my place. I was still at my family's house for the investigation. With L. Then I suddenly remembered that I hadn't been alone tonight.

My eyes flew open. It was still dark and my unaccustomed vision couldn't make much out. Though I didn't need to see to be able to tell that I'd moved around quite a lot in my sleep. I'd managed to press myself ridiculously close against L. My one hand had somehow ended up inside his shirt. He was very warm.

_Crap_. My face flooded red hot and I quickly cringed away from him, rolling over to face the wall. Thankfully, his eyes had been closed and his breathing was steady. I hoped like hell that he really was asleep and not just faking. I wouldn't have put it past him.

It was cold on this edge of the bed and I was now so close to the wall that the tip of my nose was touching it. I'd probably end up with a red mark on it later on. Still, at least that would be less embarrassing. Damn. I guess it had been a while since I'd shared a bed with anyone. My body must have missed it more than I'd realised.

I closed my eyes tight. I'd just have to pray that L had been fast asleep the whole time I'd subconsciously decided he was going to be my new teddy bear. That was enough to break the personal space bubble of anyone - let alone someone as no-touchy as him.

Though as I lay there on full alert, I could still just hear the same level breathing. Huh. Maybe I'd gotten lucky after all. It sounded like L really was asleep. I tried to concentrate on that fact, attempting to forget the feel of his bare skin underneath my fingers.

I continued to lie and listen to him breathing for a while, before my curiosity eventually got the better of me. Come on, how often did L actually _sleep_? I slowly rolled back over and very gingerly sat up, pushing my hair back behind my ear to stop it from obscuring my view as I looked down at L.

He was lying flat on his back with his arms straight by his sides. Man, even when asleep, his posture was still totally awkward. He actually looked quite peaceful though. His hair was half falling across his face, as usual, but his expression was smooth and untroubled in sleep. He actually seemed more human with those expressionless black eyes closed. It was a little unnerving.

Dammit, what was I _doing_? I silently cursed myself, dragging my gaze away from L and running a hand through my hair. This was not helping the irritatingly one-sided attraction I had for him. Not to mention I was supposed to be concentrating on trying to rest up right now if I wanted to keep my abilities up to scratch.

That was kinda hard to do though, knowing that L was lying fast asleep right next to me, I couldn't help thinking as my eyes trailed back to his face. It had been easier last night when the meds had kicked in - I hadn't really had time to think about it much. But the half a pill had clearly worn off long ago. So what was I supposed to do now?

Apparently, that wasn't my biggest concern, because without warning, L's eyes suddenly snapped open. And I was sat here staring down at him like a creeper. _Oh god_.

"Um..." I quickly tried to rack my brains for anything I could possibly say that wouldn't make the situation any worse.

L looked a little taken aback - who could blame him? "Err... Is everything alright?"

"I, um, err... was just... thinking how to get out?" Wow. That actually wasn't bad for quick thinking. Go me.

"Oh. Then go right ahead."

Great, now I was actually going to have to get out. And he wasn't exactly making this easier for me - he didn't even move! There was no way I was going to attempt climbing over him. I played it safe and ungracefully managed to get out from under the covers, then slithered down to the bottom of the bed. I hurried out of the room without looking back, then went and shut myself in the bathroom.

Perfect. Just perfect. Now all I could do was just hope that L believed my spur-of-the-moment excuse and didn't think anything else of it. Urgh, _why_ was I doing this to myself? I'd decided when we'd gotten here that I had to remain strictly professional about the situation at all times. Yet it was only the second night and I was already blowing it.

Poor L. He really never would have guessed what he was letting himself in for when he'd first agreed to meet with me. Man, how long ago had that been now? Six, seven weeks? Somehow it felt like it should have been longer. I hovered in the bathroom for probably a little too long as I tried to get my head straight, before remembering that L was likely going to still be awake. I didn't want to raise anymore suspicions with him, so I reluctantly headed back to my room.

Sure enough, L was now sat up with the bedside lamp on and one of the Georgina Kincaid books in his hands. So he couldn't have moved out of the way earlier, but he could now? He looked round as I shut the door again behind me. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, fine," I said casually, as I awkwardly climbed around him to get to my side of the bed and wriggled my way back under the covers.

"You were in the bathroom a long time," L pointed out. "I guessed that you had an upset stomach."

"What? No!" I protested, horrified. _That_ was why he thought I'd taken so long? "That's not it at all!"

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about," said L indifferently. "It happens to everyone."

I could not believe we were having this conversation. "Just go back to your reading," I huffed, defeated, as I turned back to face the wall. Maybe I would have been better off letting him know I'd just been watching him sleep.

**XXX**

Once again, L wasn't there when I woke up the following morning. He was probably downstairs and already showered again like the day before. I really, _really_ didn't want to face him now. But what choice did I have? At least I could use the excuse of showering first to try and prolong it a little more.

I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and to the bathroom, not really feeling all that rested. Though that was hardly surprising after the night I'd had. Sleeping medication was supposed to stop things like that from happening. I guessed that only half a pill was clearly no use, seeing as we'd both ended up waking during the early hours anyway.

But then I couldn't really ignore the fact that L _had_ actually slept. That was the first time I'd known him to sleep in... well, ever. That was hardly something to sneeze at, I thought to myself as I massaged shampoo into my scalp. I dragged the shower out as long as I could condone, before conceding that I couldn't do this all day. We still had work to do. Not to mention I didn't want a repeat misunderstanding. Urgh.

The moment I switched the water off, I heard a knock on the door and almost had a heart attack _again_. I hadn't really been that long, had I? Thankfully, it was only my mom. "Gee-Gee, can I just come in and grab the wash basket?"

"Sure," I called back, still behind the shower curtain. I heard the door open and then Mom start bustling about with the basket. "So, erm, is Ryuzaki downstairs?"

"Yeah, he's talking to your grandpa," Mom replied. "He's an early riser, isn't he?"

"Eh, something like that."

"What are you guys up to today then?"

"I don't know actually," I confessed. "We were gonna go out somewhere; I just don't know where."

It was true. We'd discussed yesterday that we were better not to do stakeout three days in a row if we wanted to carry on going unnoticed. So no icky coffee shop today. We'd agreed that one of us - clearly me - would quickly 'pop in' to the Nisa store later on the afternoon and get a quick rundown of the staff on duty during the later shift.

But until then, we didn't really have anything else to do. And Auntie Maggie was on an early finish today because of exams, so it was probably better for L's wellbeing if we were out of the house. I just wasn't entirely sure how I could keep him occupied for most of the day without the atmosphere turning awkward between us like it always did. The more that happened, the more it seemed to bother me.

"Why don't you take him to Entices?" Mom suggested. She laughed. "I swear you and Johnny used to go there almost every day."

I stared at her, amazed that I hadn't thought of that myself. "That's a _great_ idea! Thanks, Mom!"

Entices was a little ice cream parlour downtown that Johnny and I had indeed frequented a _lot_ back before we'd both moved to Kyoto for university. Not only did it have every possible flavour of ice cream that you could imagine, it also boasted the most delectable pancakes I'd ever tasted in my life. Could there be a better place to take an eccentric genius with a super sweet tooth? I think not. Not to mention that, all puns aside from my last failure of a night out, I'd had quite a craving for pancakes myself since then. Two birds with one stone and all that.

Mom just laughed again. "You're welcome. I'm surprised you didn't think of it first."

"Hey, it's still early," I protested jokingly.

"You keep telling yourself that," Mom teased. "Anyway, you kids have fun. If you need me before you go, I'll be out the back sorting the wash out."

"Okay, thanks."

I took that as my cue to hurry up and get ready so that I could try and thieve a jacket or something for L whilst Mom was busy. I got dried off and dressed in record time - much quicker than the day before. I stole into Mom and Auntie Maggie's room and hastily rifled through the large wardrobe.

This wasn't a new thing for me. I'd loved Auntie Maggie's fashion sense growing up and had been forever sneaking garments away from her. I just didn't want anyone to notice me taking something for L. Somehow, I felt that would be a little too weird. We just had to make sure we snuck back into the house later on.

All of Auntie Maggie's jackets and coats were a little on the feminine side. I didn't think that L would necessarily complain, but we wouldn't want to give anyone reason to take second glances at him. Thankfully, I found a faded red check shirt hiding behind Auntie Maggie's work blouses. It wasn't particularly girly and L could easily get away with wearing it over his usual white number. 

I grabbed a half-cut brown leather jacket as well whilst I was there. I could swap my wolf hoody so that I'd be wearing something different too. I slipped it on over my 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' tee and the shoulder holster that I'd already fitted into place. The jacket was just long enough to cover the Browning. Perfect.

Like the day before, L was waiting for me in the kitchen with an empty cup sat in front of him. The scent of coffee still lingered in the air. I'd always wished I liked coffee. I may not have liked the taste but I actually really liked the smell.

I tossed the check shirt across the table to L. "Here. New disguise."

We'd already discussed the idea the day before, but L just looked at the shirt in his hands and didn't move. "It's short-sleeved," he remarked.

I raised my eyebrows. What was wrong with short sleeves? "I didn't realise you were going to be picky."

"Won't it look unusual if I wear it over long sleeves?" asked L, oblivious to my sarcasm like always.

"Um, no? That's kind of the fashion." I had to remind myself that whereas I wasn't exactly up to date on all the latest style trends, I was dealing with someone who knew even less about it than me.

"Oh. Alright then." L pulled the shirt on over his shoulders and buttoned it rather sloppily. Well, at least he knew how to make the casual look convincing. "Shall we go?"

"No, let's stay and have a tea party and wait for the killer to come to us," I said sarcastically. Hey, sarcasm was my best defence and I was still feeling a little embarrassed from earlier this morning.

It clearly meant nothing to L though. He just looked at me, completely straight-faced.

"...Yeah, okay, let's just go."

We passed by the Nisa store on our way and I tried to inconspicuously get a quick look inside. All I really managed to establish was that the teenage girl from yesterday seemed to be the only one serving behind the checkouts. But I had to remember that that wasn't the plan this time. We just had to wait out the day until we could check back later on, ideally somewhere in a fairly near vicinity. Entices was actually only two blocks away. My mom really had given me the perfect suggestion.

Now I just had to hope that it would keep L entertained enough until later this afternoon. I realised that I actually really wanted him to like the cute little ice cream parlour that had always been my favourite hang-out. I'd already told him that I knew the perfect place where we could kill a few hours, so I didn't want to disappoint.

Great, now I was treating it like a date. Way to go, Gee. Because that's not going to frustrate you even more. But even so, internally scolding myself didn't quite get rid of that feeling of anticipation.

"Ta-daa!" I said with an elaborate arm gesture when we reached the front of the parlour.

"It's an ice cream parlour," L replied blankly.

"Well, yeah." Why did he always state the obvious like that? Did he think I was blind? Or stupid? And you'd have thought he'd at least be a little more enthusiastic about it. Damn robot boy. "I figured it'd be a good place to kill some time. And I'm guessing you'd be able to get a much more decent cup of coffee from here."

"Alright."

Gosh, now didn't he sound thrilled? I just rolled my eyes to myself and led the way inside. It was fairly quiet at this time on a week day. Good. I was sure that would suit L even better. I was pleased to see that the booth in the furthest corner was also free - the same one I'd always sat at. Hey, some habits just die hard.

We moved over to stand at the ice cream counter. There were rows upon rows of various flavours. Everything you could think of from bubblegum to strawberry cheesecake to amaretto. Which was made with real alcohol, I might add. Above the counter was a menu listing the many varieties of pancakes, waffles, sundaes, hot drinks... God, I'd forgotten how much I loved this place.

"I think you're cruel in bringing me here," said L.

Huh? I stared at him, feeling totally lost. "Um, why?"

"Because there's just too much choice..." replied L, staring through the glass of the counter.

I started to laugh. Wow, he'd actually made a joke. The world had clearly imploded. "Yeah, okay, I'll happily take the blame for that one. If you want ice cream though, you can have up to three different flavours in one of those cups, so go nuts."

"That might be an idea," agreed L, still looking at the ice cream and chewing the tip of his thumbnail thoughtfully. I didn't think I'd ever seen him look more human before. It was really quite adorable.

I almost felt like slapping myself to make sure I got a grip. I cast around for something else to say. "Or you can do my trick and get something else for now and then the ice cream to-go later."

L just looked at me. "I think that's the best idea you've ever had."

I laughed again. I liked to think I was a good detective, but apparently, my best idea yet was regarding ice cream? "I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended by that."

"You should be flattered," L reassured me. "I never say things lightly when it comes to ice cream."

I couldn't resist a smile. "Okay then, I'll take your word for it." Whether it was about ice cream or not, I was going to take whatever compliment I could get. It wasn't like L was the type to dish them out regularly after all.

He was now looking at the menu above the counter. Without looking away, he said, "Why don't you choose a table and I'll get these."

"Wait... what?"

L did look at me then. "I said why don't you choose a table and I'll get these," he repeated patiently like I was a small child.

"No, that's not what I meant," I protested, not quite as patiently. "What I meant was... _why_?"

"I'm not sure I understand the question."

Genius detective, my ass. "I mean, where has this suddenly come from?" Somehow I got the feeling that L definitely wasn't the type to buy things for people.

"We're supposed to be a couple, aren't we?" L reminded me. "I thought that this was the social protocol."

I wished he'd stop saying 'protocol'. It was too business-like. And we all knew how much I liked to pretend and think otherwise. "That's only for the benefit of my family. We don't really need to keep the pretence up out of the house."

"Don't we?" said L. "As you know, you used to live here and you've already bumped into somebody that you know. It doesn't hurt to cover our backs - in case of the possibility of information being passed along."

Wow. That was actually a good point. You'd have thought I'd be the one wanting to take advantage of this situation. How had I not thought of it first? "Okay, that may be true, but..."

"Exactly," L cut across me. "So go and sit down."

"But..." I didn't really know how to explain to him that I didn't like guys buying things for me. Even if it was just a dessert. "I haven't decided what I want yet."

"I'll choose for you."

Geez, talk about bossy. I hated to admit it, but I actually quite liked this authoritative side of him. It now seemed like a long time since it had been me bossing him around. "Fine," I conceded reluctantly. If he happened to make a poor choice, then at least I wouldn't be paying for it. "I'll go and get that booth in the corner."

I scuttled away and plonked myself down in the corner booth. This was going to be a weird day; I could just tell. I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket, looking for something to distract myself. It was lucky I did - I had four new text messages from Johnny. Yeesh. He'd clearly ignored the rule of not texting someone more than twice before getting a reply. And I was pretty sure he'd actually taught me that in the first place.

Though that only made me more intrigued as to what he could want so badly. As I read the messages in succession, I realised it was actually just Johnny being Johnny. And by that, I mean having an incredibly one-tracked mind.

' _How's the case going, missy? Jumped anyone's bones yet?_ '

' _You promised you'd keep me updated._ '

' _Are you not updating me because you're too busy having sexy times?_ '

' _Hope you're having fun ;)_ '

Good grief. I made an exasperated gesture towards my phone, despite the fact that Johnny couldn't actually see me. He really was a force to be reckoned with. He was worse than all of my girlfriends put together. I impatiently texted out a quick reply. ' _Don't be ridiculous. I haven't updated you because nothing's happened._ '

I was already regretting telling him anything. Obviously, I hadn't gone into detail about the case - I'd simply explained that I was staying with my family and that I had to try and pass L off as my boyfriend. I knew he'd get a great kick out of that. I hadn't even mentioned the whole bed sharing thing. He'd probably explode.

As always, Johnny lived with his phone in his hand. It took all of a minute for him to reply. ' _I'm disappointed in you. Have you really not got ANYTHING to give me?_ '

He was persistent too. I racked my brain for something I could give him. ' _Actually, we're at Entices right now. He's buying._ '

The next reply was even quicker. ' _Jealous. And get in._ '

I couldn't help but smile. I wasn't the only one who missed coming to this place every week. I wished we had somewhere like Entices back in Seika. ' _I can't promise anything._ '

Lightning speed texting was clearly Johnny's superpower. Despite the new message being a little lengthier, it still didn't take him any longer to reply. It took me that long just to get onto my text messaging screen. ' _Well, at least TRY and be sexy. Put some skimpier things on than you normally do and make sure you wear your best perfume._ '

I rolled my eyes. L would probably take more notice of me if I wore a giant cake costume than he would if I tried wearing something skimpy, like Johnny was suggesting. Apparently, no amount of telling my best friend that was going to get it through his thick skull. My sarcasm was obvious even through texting. ' _Yeah, I'm holding my breath on that one._ '

I only had time to read Johnny's last piece of advice, ' _At least ditch the glasses_ ', because L had suddenly appeared around the side of the booth. I hastily slid my phone off the table and back into my pocket. L either didn't notice or simply wasn't interested. I was betting on the latter.

He climbed up onto the seat opposite me and settled into his usual position. Apparently, he felt comfortable enough to do so in our corner booth. I didn't bother chastising him for it this time. It wasn't like the parlour was busy or anything. For now he could be as weird and as... L as he liked.

"They said it'll be ten minutes," he stated.

"Oh, okay." He'd clearly ordered hot food if it was going to take ten minutes. "So... what did you order?"

"It's a surprise," said L without the slightest change of expression. If he'd said it and smiled, then it would have sounded like a light-hearted joke. As it was, delivered with his usual poker face, it was more along the lines of creepy.

"Great..."

I was just about to start worrying about the atmosphere turning awkward between us like it usually did, but surprisingly, L was the first to break the silence. "How's your finger?"

"Oh..." I'd actually completely forgotten about it. It had stung when I'd showered and replaced the Band-Aid, but besides that, it had been fine. "It's okay. It's not actually as deep as I thought it was."

"Then if you're lucky, you may not even need stitches," said L.

"That's the dream," I replied jokingly. I did not want any unnecessary needles stuck in me, thank you very much.

"For someone who has quite a dangerous job, you seem to be quite afraid of something so small," L pointed out. If I hadn't known any better, I'd have said that he was teasing me.

"Hey, I had to have eight stitches in my leg once," I protested. "Forgive me for not wanting to repeat that."

"What happened?" asked L. God forbid, he actually sounded semi-interested.

"I got stabbed actually," I confessed. "When I was a police officer."

I knew it sounded pretty dramatic, especially when you said it out loud, but I still personally felt that getting shot was more hardcore. Provided you didn't die, of course. Chad had been shot once before, but there was nothing hardcore about _where_ he'd been shot. I'll leave that to your imaginations.

"Some jackass I was trying to apprehend got the jump on me and pulled a knife. He sliced my leg up pretty good - right here." I traced a line out along the top of my skirt, knowing exactly where the killer scar was underneath the material. Of course I hadn't forgotten - it had been a right bitch to heal.

L watched where I was pointing and didn't say anything else for a little while. When he did, he'd kind of changed the subject again, as he so liked to do. "You're very comfortable talking about yourself," he stated.

I hadn't quite expected that one, but then I was often surprised by what L came out with sometimes. "Funnily enough, that's part of what you do when socialising," I teased.

"Hmm. I can't say I really socialise that often," said L.

"Really? I never would have guessed," I said sarcastically.

L just looked at me. "I do believe you're teasing me."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, at least you're clearly learning. There's still hope for you yet." 

The waitress came over then with the food, effectively distracting us both. L had ordered both of us pancakes. Good lord, I hoped it wasn't any kind of implication towards _that_ night. I quickly forgot about that though when I realised just what was packed into my pancakes. Spiced apple and cinnamon. I _loved_ cinnamon. Not too shabby, L. Definitely not too shabby.

"Maybe I'll let you order more often," I said appreciatively after my first forkful. It was piping hot and just as delicious as it smelt. "How did you know I liked cinnamon?"

"I didn't," said L plainly. His pancakes appeared to be some kind of forest berries mix. They were also stuffed full of whipped cream. "I guessed."

I frowned and waggled my fork at him. "You're gonna have to enlighten me on that one." I was certain that I'd never mentioned it to him before. And how did you _guess_ something like that?

"One of your perfumes smelt like cinnamon," explained L. "It wasn't difficult to deduce that it was something you'd like, seeing as you're happy enough to wear it as a fragrance."

Huh? What perfume did I have that smelt of cinnamon? That was definitely news to me. I racked my brains to try and think of which it could be, which I might have used during this case... But I had no idea. Maybe L had some kind of Gus style 'super sniffer' where he could identify the individual ingredients that most people couldn't pick up. Or maybe I just liked referring things back to Psych.

"I didn't even realise I had a perfume like that," I said. "When was this?"

L didn't answer straightaway. "I don't remember," he eventually replied stonily.

I frowned again. Somehow, I got the feeling that he wasn't telling the truth. This was the world's greatest detective after all _and_ it was L. I was certain that his memory was flawless. Why he was lying, I had no idea, but I knew that I'd never get it out of him if he didn't want to tell me. Stupid robot detective.

So instead, I just said, "Oh." And left it at that.

We stayed in Entices for a couple of hours and even had a round of hot waffles too. Oh, man, I was going to get fat on this case. I needed some action now purely for the exercise. How did L never seem to suffer from this fate? He seemed to eat sweets constantly, but I'd certainly never seen him exercise.

What was even more amazing was that whilst we were there, the awkward silences had actually been minimal. L still hadn't really ventured anything about his own life, but at least he hadn't just left me talking by myself. I realised that even though he never gave a great deal of input, I was still finding him easier and easier to talk to.

When we decided it was a suitable time to leave, we grabbed some tubs of ice cream to-go like I'd suggested. Cue more weight gain. I was tempted to suggest we raced each other home, but A) that would definitely draw unnecessary attention to ourselves, and B) I didn't want to risk dropping my ice cream.

Not wanting to miss out on the great variety of flavours, L ended up choosing a bizarre combination. It sounded fun, so I did the same. Pineapple, strawberry cheesecake and black cherry, mmm... L went for the strawberry cheesecake too, as well as chocolate mallow ripple and, amazingly, the amaretto.

I was betting that he had no idea there was alcohol in it, even though it was definitely easy enough to taste. I'd tried some of Johnny's before - I didn't personally like amaretto, but he'd wanted to prove that he wasn't being a wuss and that it was genuinely quite alcoholic. L either didn't notice or he simply didn't care. I snuck a few glances at him on the walk back, but nothing in his expression suggested that he could taste anything unusual. But then I guessed that L's expression rarely suggested anything anyway.

I popped into the Nisa store on the way back like we'd planned, whilst L feigned looking in some of the windows of other shops along the street. It wasn't helpful at all. I didn't see any suspicious customers _or_ staff. The mousy girl from earlier was still serving and the only other staff member that I hadn't seen yet was an elderly woman with pure white hair.

I crossed her off the suspect list immediately. Her eyesight was obviously incredibly poor - even wearing thick bifocal glasses, I could see that she was still straining to read the display on the cash register. Plus her hands were clearly so riddled with arthritis that she could barely even grip the item scanner. She definitely wasn't who we were looking for. I met L a little way down the street and quietly relayed this back to him as we were walking. I was starting to get a bit antsy - both about the case and also about L himself.

We'd already agreed that tomorrow would be our last day in Osaka if we didn't manage to find any more clues. It would have been a whole week since the day when Sunae Michishio's credit card had been used. If there was nothing to find after a week, then it was safe to assume that our identity thief had already moved on elsewhere. It would be pointless staying in Osaka longer than necessary, seeing as we couldn't actually do any work from my family's house. We were better off back in Kyoto.

That left us with two scenarios. One being that we'd find something good and be that much closer to solving this thing. Only when that happened, I had no doubt in my mind that L would disappear and that I'd never see him again. As much as I wanted to see this case through, I definitely wasn't looking forward to that part of it.

The other option was going to be that we didn't find anything and we had to go back to Kyoto. That was the preferable choice, considering the L aspect. But even so, I felt that things were different between us whilst being in this close environment with my family. I'd felt a lot closer to him the last few days and I was sure that he seemed more comfortable around me too. I didn't want to lose that.

Johnny's advice from earlier had started to play on my mind. If I really wanted to make an impact on L so that he wouldn't forget about me so easily, then I was going to have to up my game. But how exactly did I do that? Johnny's suggestion had been pretty useless, seeing as it was L that we were talking about. Unfortunately, I didn't have any ideas of my own.

When we got back to the house, I let us in with the spare key that I'd borrowed for the day and shouted hello, rewarded with a chorus of replies from the lounge. L pulled the check shirt off and then followed me through into the kitchen so that we could dispose of our now empty ice cream tubs. 

"You did realise there was alcohol in the amaretto ice cream, didn't you?" I told L.

For once, L actually looked mildly taken aback. "There was?"

"Yeah, couldn't you taste it?" I asked. "Didn't you know that's what amaretto is?"

"I did, but I didn't think that they'd use real alcohol in ice cream. I'd just heard that it tasted similar to marzipan," said L, looking thoughtful. Ah, that was why I didn't like amaretto. Marzipan... urgh. "There _was_ a taste to it that I couldn't quite put my finger on... I guess that was it."

He looked so damn intrigued by it that I couldn't help but laugh. "Congratulations, you just had your first taste of alcohol. Well... I'm guessing that was your first taste, right?"

"Of course," L replied, like I would have been stupid to think otherwise.

"Alright, Mr. Snooty. Just because you've never been afflicted by that particular vice before doesn't mean that nobody else has," I said jokingly.

"No, I understand that for most people, it's simply human nature to indulge in such things," L agreed. Yup, human nature. That was definitely me. "But you appeared to be quite ill the last time that you did so and I'd certainly rather not experience that myself."

Oh, _cringe_. Did he have to bring that up? "Yeah, you're better off avoiding that side of it," I said offhandedly. "Though in my defence, it's not that often that I get _that_ bad."

"I don't think it's anything you should be ashamed about. It seems to be a common way for people to relieve stress," said L indifferently. I was sure we'd already had this conversation before, but at least he still wasn't holding the incident against me. "Those books of yours also seem to back up that theory."

Uh oh. This was the first time he'd actually brought up the Georgina Kincaid books. "Oh, yeah, I guess they do... So, um... have you enjoyed them so far?" I still wasn't sure I wanted to know, but I felt obliged to ask.

"They're... tolerable, I suppose," said L. I have to admit that was the kind of answer I'd expected. What I didn't anticipate was him then adding, "It's not the kind of genre that I'd choose to read myself, but I have to admit that I find the characters quite likeable."

"Really?" I brightened. I'd never thought he'd actually find something he liked about them - I'd assumed they'd just remain a way for him to pass time during the night. "The characters are actually my favourite thing about the series." I was still eager for him to know that I was interested in the books for the characters and the storyline - or at least not the erotica.

"Yes," confirmed L, looking quite thoughtful again. "The character of Seth, for instance. I find him quite... relatable, in some ways."

I managed to keep myself from laughing for all of about two seconds before I gave in. L just looked at me, so I explained. "He actually reminded me of you straightaway. As soon as I first started reading these books."

"Oh," said L. "So you've only started reading this series whilst on this case?"

"Yep. Apart from the two that you've been reading - I haven't read them yet. Feel honoured that I let you read them first," I joked. "And of course, _don't_ tell me anything that happens."

"Really? So you don't want to know about..." L started to say.

"Hey, come on! What did I just say?" I protested, cutting in.

"But it's extremely obvious that Georgina and Seth are going to..."

"La la la la la!" I said loudly, putting my hands over my ears. "Come on, don't ruin it for me!"

Irritatingly, my reaction actually seemed to amuse him. "You really believe that you haven't already guessed the outcome? Novels are always highly predictable - particularly the relationships within them."

I lowered my hands. The action had been pointless anyway - I'd still heard every word he'd said. "Well, when it comes to _real_ relationships, it's rarely that black and white. So there's always the possibility that some authors could take a more realistic approach."

"You think it's much more complicated in reality?" asked L.

"Trust me. I _know_ it is," I said very pointedly.

But obviously, L still didn't get it. He just stared blankly back at me like he usually did. I resisted the urge to sigh. Just once, it would be nice to get something black and white myself. But then how likely was that ever going to be whilst I was still mooning over L?

And of course, he always found more ways to confuse me even further. "I liked Georgina too," he commented, going back to the original conversation. He clearly wasn't keen on this one. "She actually reminded me of you."

"Um, she did?" Now I was interested. Sure, I'd made the same comparison myself before, but it was different when it was someone else. Especially L. And _especially_ after he'd just stated that he liked said character. I knew I was kinda clutching at straws, but that was generally what I did with L anyway.

L nodded. "She's very quirky, much like you. And she's also quite funny."

"You think I'm funny?" I said, surprised. It may not have been the best compliment he could have given, but personally, I was happy with funny. A sense of humour was one of the main things I looked for in a person. One I'd clearly overlooked when it came to L.

L almost smiled. "I may not know what you're even talking about half the time, but yes, I do find you rather amusing at times."

Well, damn, I was pretty happy with that. Brilliant or amazing would have been even better, but maybe that was asking a little too much. Not to mention being incredibly unrealistic. "Well, I think Georgina's awesome, so I'm going to take that as a very big compliment," I grinned.

L actually did smile at that one. It was a shame he didn't smile more often - it transformed his whole face. It really was quite something. "I don't think that Georgina is as nice a name as Georgia though."

Now that really did confuse me. I didn't get the deal he had with my name. But whether I got it or not, it still made me blush - I felt my face heat up. Damn it. That would have barely been classed as a compliment if it had come from anyone else. And to make things worse, even he noticed my reaction.

"Are you alright? Your cheeks look a little pink," L pointed out.

"I'm fine," I said hastily. Sometimes it was actually a good thing that he couldn't distinguish most emotions all that well. "It's just a little warm; that's all."

"Why don't you step outside for a bit if you're feeling flushed?" L suggested, making towards the kitchen door.

"Wait..." I started, grabbing his arm without thinking as he'd gone to step away. We'd actually been having what felt like a real conversation for once. I didn't want it to be over yet.

"What is it?" asked L, turning back to me. 

It wasn't just the conversation I didn't want to end. It was this whole day. Entices, the random topics of conversation, Georgina and Seth, the spot-on guess about the cinnamon pancakes... They were each small, insignificant things really. But when you combined them all, it made me feel that I really had made more progress with L today.

I'd broken down more barriers between us, I thought, as I stared at those onyx black eyes. I felt I could talk to him almost as easily now as I could with any of my other friends. Except maybe Johnny. His ideas of conversation were sometimes too intimate even for me.

But it was _his_ advice from earlier that was still circling inside my head. And it was partly that advice that made me do something very, very stupid.

I leant in towards L, still not entirely thinking straight. It was only at the last moment that I noticed his eyes widen in surprise. I stopped dead, my lips barely an inch away from his. It was the exact same reaction he'd had before. He wasn't welcoming this - he hadn't even been expecting it. Oh, Gee, _what_ were you thinking?

"...What are you doing?" L asked slowly, completely unmoving.

Crap, crap, crap! I desperately racked my brains for some crazy excuse I could use, still frozen to the spot. How the hell was I going to talk my way out of this one? Wait... _Talk_... A certain, beautiful show that I adored suddenly sprang to mind, providing me with my saviour of an answer.

"This is just, um... very close talking," I improvised. My heart was now thudding hard in my chest. I still couldn't move.

L didn't move either, but then he didn't really have any other choice. I'd kind of unintentionally trapped him in the corner. "I see..." His voice was still very level, unlike mine. "And is there a reason for this... very close talking?"

"Oh, I don't know. I saw it on a TV show - thought it might be fun," I said in my best attempt to sound casual. I wasn't really sure if it was actually working. I could practically hear my heartbeat in my ears.

And my main problem now was that I wasn't sure how to get back out of this situation. I wasn't even entirely sure I _wanted_ to. Even if my pulse was racing and I felt scared to even breathe. I quickly cast around for something else to say. Something mundane that would be easy to concentrate on.

"So... did you like Entices?" I asked carefully, barely even moving my lips.

"I did," replied L, seemingly just as careful. "Thank you for introducing me to it."

I could practically taste the scent of amaretto still lingering on his breath. Huh, maybe I'd develop a new liking for it after today. I was distracted by the fact that his tone wasn't quite as flat as it usually was. He was also standing extremely tense, his arms stiff at his sides.

We may not have actually been touching, but I could feel it positively radiating off him. I was making him very uncomfortable. Of course, I definitely didn't want that, but then at the same time, the last thing I wanted to do was move away. When would I ever be able to get this close to him again? 

Let's face it; after this, he'd probably drop-kick me the next time I tried.

"Was there anything else?" L asked, quite softly for him.

The alcohol in the ice cream clearly hadn't been enough to affect him at all, even for a first taste. Part of me thought that it was a bit of a shame, but then maybe it would be better if I was the only one feeling stupid after this. I probably shouldn't have been thinking about bringing the world's best detective down to my level.

"No. I guess not," I admitted reluctantly. I still wasn't sure if I'd be able to pull myself away, short of L giving me a push.

I ended up not having the option either way, as a new voice suddenly called out, "Knock, knock!"

I sprang away from L so abruptly that it was a wonder I didn't fall back on my butt. Auntie Maggie had poked her head around the door. She'd looked mildly surprised for all of a second before amusement had taken over - no doubt because of the rather, err... compromising situation she'd found us in.

"Sorry, guys; didn't mean to interrupt," she grinned knowingly. "I'm doing a coffee run. You kids want anything?"

"Err, we have coffee here," I pointed out. There was a pot right by where L was still standing.

"Not Starbucks coffee, we don't." 

Ah, now she hadn't mentioned that part before. Now I could understand her motive better. "You didn't even teach for a full day today and you still need coffee?" I teased, jumping on the first opportunity I could to try and lighten up the atmosphere again.

"It's just a little treat from me to me," Auntie Maggie laughed. "I've gotta get my fix either way." Geez, why did everybody I knew have an addiction to that crappy stuff? And by 'everyone', I actually meant three people. "Ryuzaki, would you like anything?"

"Coffee sounds good, thank you," replied L smoothly. His voice was back to its usual monotony. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. I sure hoped I hadn't scarred him for life with that idiotic 'very close talking' move.

Auntie Maggie turned back to me. "Gee?" I just gave her an obvious grin in response and she laughed again. "Yeah, why am I even asking? I know what _you_ want... Alright, I'll be back in about fifteen. You kids can carry on where you left off." She winked at us before disappearing.

I cringed internally. Wow. Way to shoot things right back down to awkward again. I wouldn't blame L if he didn't ever want to speak to me again after this case was over. Scratch that; I wouldn't even blame him if he went back to Gibs and pressed sexual harassment charges against me.

Urgh. I mentally ticked off another box of incredibly stupid things I'd done since deciding working alongside the greatest detective would be a good idea. In hindsight, maybe that should have been a very different decision.

**XXX**

To top it all off, that third night was undoubtedly the worst yet. I'd ended up having a nightmare about being trapped in the burning library again. It was a recurring one I'd used to suffer from all the time. I actually hadn't had it in a while. I should have known it'd still come back and bite me in the ass at some point.

And no matter how many times I dreamt it, it never lost any of the fear factor. I sat bolt upright in bed, practically hyperventilating. I could still smell the smoke and I could almost taste the burning wood heavy on my tongue. Feeling my stomach roil, I hastily - and awkwardly - clambered over L and dashed to the bathroom. I fell to my knees in front of the toilet just in time to vomit into the bowl.

I groaned, my eyes watering. I hated throwing up. Okay, I'm sure that nobody actually enjoyed it... But I _really_ hated it. I never let myself get sick - besides the occasional hangover, of course. It was the one time I felt most vulnerable. I'd never been sure why it was built into people that when they were upset in any way, the first person they wanted was their mom, but I was no exception to that rule.

Luckily, my mom has always been majorly intuitive with that kind of stuff. She still always knows whenever I need her. Sure enough, within moments, she'd appeared behind me and started rubbing my back to try and comfort me. "Are you okay? Was it a bad dream or do you think you may have eaten something funny?" she asked me gently. She knew me too well. It wasn't the first time my recurring nightmare had made me physically sick.

"Bad dream." I spat bitterly into the bowl again. Urgh. My mouth tasted horrible.

"Sit tight, Gee-Gee. I'll go get you a glass of water," Mom reassured me, disappearing from my side.

I sat back and leant my head against the side of the bathtub. I didn't think I'd vomit again now. I seemed to have gotten it all out of my system. What I really wanted now was a good cry. Throwing up always made me feel miserable and the nightmare certainly hadn't helped any. But that definitely wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Mom returned quicker than I expected. She started lightly massaging my back again. I sighed. I was ready for my bed again now. Not to mention I'd have to explain to L what the hell I'd been doing. He'd been sat up reading again and had certainly looked taken aback when I'd suddenly woken up and proceeded to hurdling him in order to make my escape.

I sighed again and turned around to take the water from Mom, then jumped in surprise. Mom hadn't come back upstairs yet. It was L. "What are you doing?" I blurted out, shocked and more than a little confused.

"I saw your mother do this," said L impassively. "It seems to be the social convention for when people are ill."

How long had he been watching? Had he seen me throw up? Oh, _hell_. I groaned, turning away, and pressed my face back against the side of the bath. Instead of going away like I wanted him to, I felt L's hand tentatively on my back again. Damn protocol and social conventions...

"You don't have to do that. I feel better already," I lied. In truth, the feeling of L's hand on my back was just making my stomach churn even more. I think in normal circumstances, it would have been from butterflies, but right now my body was still feeling a little messed up.

"Alright." I felt his hand move away. "Then have this instead."

He passed me a glass of water. Mom had clearly returned at some point whilst he'd been there and had decided I'd be okay with him. Oh, Mom, you could have come and interrupted us... _Why_ couldn't you have come and interrupted us?

I supposed it wasn't an altogether bad situation that L actually seemed like he may have been concerned, but I still didn't like the idea of him knowing that I'd thrown up - or worse, had seen it. That was a weakness that I only ever showed in front of my mom or Johnny, when we had to hold each other's hair back. Oh, what was I talking about? Johnny didn't have that much hair.

"Thanks." I took a few sips of water and swirled them unpleasantly in my mouth, spitting them back out in the bowl, before I actually drank any. "You can go and carry on reading. I'll be fine now."

L didn't seem convinced. "If you feel you're going to be alright, then you should go and get some sleep."

Wow. I was giving him the chance to run and he wasn't taking it. "Okay."

"Do you need a hand getting up?"

"Yes, please." My legs still felt like jelly.

L lent me his hand and helped me to my feet. His slender fingers were cool and smooth. He was being real nice to me and I sure as hell didn't deserve it. The guy sure had an incredible tolerance for my inappropriate behaviour.

"Thank you," I said with much more meaning than he probably understood.

"You're welcome."

As I climbed quite gratefully back into bed, I couldn't help but marvel that even after I'd tried making a move on L _again_ , he'd still stayed with me to try and make me feel better. Maybe the day hadn't been quite so bad after all.


	19. Time To Act

If I hadn't been acutely aware that this was possibly our last day in Osaka, then I could have been getting very fed up of this damn Nisa convenience store. As it was, it was probably the staff who were getting fed up of us. The store clearly didn't restock anymore than at least every three days - I'd cleared out a whole shelf of the cheap branded energy drinks during our time here. Now I was being forced onto the more expensive Red Bull. Not that I was complaining when it came to taste. Only in the cost department.

And because I was so aware that our time in Osaka could be ending, I'd taken Johnny's advice maybe a little to heart. I wasn't quite daring enough to wear less than my usual skirt, 80's themed tee and boots combo, but I did sneak a few sprays of Mom's Midnight Fantasy perfume. She was the one I'd clearly picked that trait up from. I'd never been a fan of that particular one since it reminded me of strawberries and I'd never much liked strawberries. But I did know somebody who did.

I knew it was ridiculous, but this was L we were talking about. He was far from your average guy. If I wanted him to take notice, then I needed to take desperate measures. So in another bold move, I'd taken Johnny's advice yet again - Christ, the apocalypse must be nigh - and left my glasses at home for the day.

That was easily the one I was regretting most. I could still see long distances just fine without my glasses - they were only for reading and computer work. But because I wore them all the time, I was just so dang used to them. It was like they helped me to focus. Now I felt like that focus was all out of whack.

And all this over a guy. I was spending too much time around Johnny for my own good.

"I'm going to check the back of the store again," L told me quietly. "You wait here. Pretend to be looking at the offers near the registers."

I knew that it would be less conspicuous than us constantly milling about the store together, but I was still very wary about the idea of splitting up. "Just be careful," I told him.

L just gave me a blank stare, like I was ridiculous for thinking he'd do otherwise, then left me at the front of the store by myself. I busied myself with acting like I was interested in the silly impulse buys of chocolate and teacakes. Like I needed anything else sweet. I felt I'd had enough ice cream yesterday to feed a whole platoon. 

With every other movement, I allowed myself short glances towards the registers. Working today was the elderly woman with arthritic hands, the same mousy girl from the first day... and then someone new. She'd just opened up the next cash register as I glanced again, chatting along to the mousy-haired girl. She was very attractive with flawlessly pretty features and dramatic, bleached blonde hair. She was also weirdly familiar, though I couldn't quite put my finger on why...

Very suddenly, I felt someone press close up against my back and then lips whisper a mere breath away from my earlobe, " _Don't_ look around. Just act normal and play along."

It took me less than a second to realise that it was L. I felt electricity tingle all the way down my spine. I don't know how I hadn't just keeled over on the spot from his closeness. If it hadn't been for the sense of urgency in his voice, then I probably would have. To be honest, I was surprised I hadn't jumped out of my skin just from his usual silent, vampiristic approach. Bully for me.

Before I could even think how to react, L stepped back away from me and said loudly in a godly _awful_ accent, "Aw geez, honey, I left my wallet in the car."

How I didn't just turn and stare at him in amazement, I have no idea. If I hadn't known that the situation was clearly important, then I would have just burst out laughing. The guy really, _really_ couldn't act.

As it was, I had to get my head together and join in with this stupid roleplay as convincingly as I could. From what I could tell from L's play-acting, he wanted an excuse to get out of here. And fast. That I could work with. I turned and sighed. "Oh, trust you! Come on, we'd better hurry or the parking meter will run out..."

I led us out of the store with L very close on my heels. Even though I was dying to know what was wrong, I knew better than to stand and quiz him in the doorway. So instead, I turned right as we left and carried on down the street, trying to look like I was walking with purpose.

I could see L just out of my peripheral vision, still walking to the side and just slightly behind me. Once we were three blocks away, I started to slow, but L suddenly caught up and took my arm abruptly, forcing my pace to quicken again. "Just keep walking back to the house," he muttered quietly. "We need somewhere safe where we can talk more freely."

That made sense. It was basic detective protocol. Out in the open? Definitely not safe to talk. Of course, that only made me even more concerned to know what was going on, but I knew well enough to bite my tongue. I let L steer me back towards the house. He didn't release my arm until we got inside, so at least I'd gotten one perk out of this.

Only when we got upstairs was I let out of the dark. "The blonde woman working behind the register," L said sharply the moment I closed the bedroom door behind us. "Do you know who she was?"

The question threw me. Though I'd thought she'd looked familiar, I hadn't expected her to be at the thick of L's concern. "Well, I recognised her, but I didn't..."

"That's the woman who was at Jin Tanaka's office the day we got locked in."

I stared at him, the recognition that I'd needed finally flooding through me. Of course! She'd had black hair when we'd seen her then - that would explain the violent dye job. Not to mention why I'd found it difficult to place her. She was the one who'd sent us into the empty office in the first place. She had to be integrally linked to this. Why else would she now be here in Osaka? 

"So when she sent us into the wrong office... That wasn't just an accident," I slowly realised, as I recalled the events. "She seemed surprised the moment we mentioned Jin's name. She knew we were lying straightaway! Either she was the one who locked us in and set the office on fire or she warned Jin and he came to do the job himself whilst we were still there."

L didn't even seem to be listening to me. Of course, he'd probably figured this all out himself already. Instead, he cut across me again. "Why didn't you recognise her?"

The question made me falter a second time. "I _did_. I just... Her hair was different; I couldn't quite place her..."

"I still knew who she was straightaway," L pointed out.

I frowned. "What; do you want me to congratulate you on being a better detective than me? That's hardly news." I didn't get why he was being so insistent on this one small point.

"No, I want you to admit that you're slipping," L counteracted. "You should have recognised her easily. Admit it."

I opened my mouth and closed it again several times before I could say anything to that. What was I supposed to say? Sorry was hardly going to help in this situation. I tried to hedge my way out of it instead. "I wasn't even really paying much attention to her. We'd checked out the staff so many times already; I was concentrating more on the clientele."

"You're lying," said L straightaway. "I saw you looking straight at her. That's why I made you leave - if she noticed you looking for too long, then she would have known that we'd recognised her and figured out who she was."

I suddenly felt really out of my depth and I hated it. I _should_ have recognised her like L did. I knew why I hadn't - it was because I'd been too damn busy daydreaming about our day at Entices. Man, I really sucked as a detective sometimes. "So... you don't think she did realise after all?" I asked in a smaller voice.

"I don't know," said L stonily. "But we have to consider the possibility that she did and that she could now consequently disappear and go into hiding again. You were careless. You should have remembered to wear your glasses."

Oh, so he had noticed I hadn't been wearing them. He just clearly hadn't cared. I was stupid for ever thinking he would. "My glasses weren't anything to do with it," I said, nettled. "They're only for reading anyway."

"Yet your eyes still deceived you," L pointed out. "If you weren't able to rely on your sight, then you should have been able to open your other senses. So close your eyes."

"What? _No_ ," I protested. I may have made a mistake, but I didn't need tips from him. Could he get any more condescending?

"Then turn around."

"Huh?" Against my better judgement, I found myself automatically doing as he said, curious as to what he could be planning. What I didn't expect was him to step up close behind me and place a cool hand over my eyes. "Hey, what are you doing?" I spluttered.

My first instinct would have been to pull away, but the fact that it was L made me hesitate and I hated myself for it. Why did I never learn? All I could hope was that he didn't notice how hot my face currently was. Or at least that he didn't think there was anything weird about it.

"You wouldn't close your eyes when I told you to, so I'm doing it for you," said L flatly. "Now tell me what you can hear."

Though I didn't like feeling patronised, I reluctantly obliged and fell silent, concentrating on all the sounds around me. There was the thrum of the central heating running through the old pipes. A couple of birds were tweeting outside my window. Footsteps downstairs - it had to be Grandpa; nobody else was in right now.

"Birds, the radiators, my grandpa moving about downstairs..." I reeled off unenthusiastically.

"What about now?"

I listened again and this time I heard something new. It was a light, plucking sort of sound. It sounded like the click of nails against plastic, only it was deadened by something softer, something with more of a spring.

"You're pulling at the buttons on your shirt. Very enlightening," I said sarcastically. "Is there a point to this?"

L's hand fell away from my eyes as he stepped aside. "Most people wouldn't be able to distinguish such a small and insignificant sound. If you can identify something like that, then you shouldn't have had any trouble recognising the voice of someone you've heard before. The woman was talking to her colleague when you were watching her - if you couldn't recognise her by sight, then you should have been able to by sound."

I felt my face colour as I turned back towards him. I needlessly straightened my jacket and began fiddling with my holster. I felt I needed to keep my hands busy - I could feel anger beginning to build. I knew that L was right and that was the problem. No one ever admitted to being wrong in this business. Especially not me. Yet I knew that I was. I was so angry with myself for it, but getting so severely reprimanded by L was only making me want to direct that anger elsewhere. 

"Well, you'd know best," I said dryly. It was childish; I knew. But I couldn't stop it. If it wasn't that, then it would be something worse. Something I couldn't take back.

It was clearly still the wrong thing to say. It was probably the closest I'd ever seen L to being angry. "You're being ridiculous. This is an extremely dangerous case - this woman is somehow partially, if not completely, responsible for the deaths of seven people. I'm just saying that you should pay more attention to what's actually important."

His words made me feel sick. He was completely right. People had died, yet I was still wasting my time chasing after a guy who clearly wasn't interested when I should have been trying to help put a psycho behind bars and get the families who'd been hurt by this the closure that they needed. What was I playing at?

Of course, the teeny bit of pride I had left still refused to let me admit that I was wrong. I felt I was at some point between angry and upset - and definitely leaning towards being stressed out. I bit my lip, tugging harder at my holster. "What do you want me to say? Sorry I wasn't as quick as you were? Sorry I'm not as good of a detective?" 

"Don't make this about me," said L flatly. "I'm not the one who's preventing us from solving this case."

That was the last straw. I felt the needle tip instantly towards angry. Without even thinking about it, I'd pulled the Browning from its holster. I had no intention of actually using it. It was a move I'd used as a scare tactic on a few occasions, though I'd never pulled it on one of the good guys before. I couldn't help it - I was just seeing red.

I'd only half raised it, not even aiming properly, though most people would still be at least a little wary of a super pissed off girl with a firearm. But not L. In light of the situation, he seemed surprisingly calm. "You won't shoot me. You're just being even more ridiculous."

Of course, that just pissed me off even more. Why wasn't he the slightest bit nervous? Did he not see me as a threat? Did he think I was just some girl who was more of a hindrance than a help on this case?

I'd spent the last few months trying my hardest to measure up to this guy - and the last several years before that admiring his work. All I'd wanted was just one moment to feel that I might actually be in the same league as him. But I'd thrown that all away by losing sight of what was more important, all because of him. _What was it with this guy_?

I could feel my hand shaking. I couldn't have aimed even if I'd wanted to. When I spoke, I then found that my voice was trembling too - though I couldn't tell if it was from being angry at L, angry at myself or just angry at everything about this whole damn case. "Don't forget that I helped _you_ to begin with. If I hadn't vouched for you, then you would have been off this case a long time ago. So don't try and make out that I'm the only one who's made mistakes."

"I don't make mistakes," said L coolly. "Some people just don't understand the way I prefer to work. I haven't missed anything on this case and I've never slowed its progress either."

He didn't need to add ' _but you have_ '. The words hung unsaid between us anyway. That was the last thing I needed to decide who I was angry at. It was him.

I clearly wasn't going to actually shoot him. So instead, I flipped the gun round and clunked him none-too-gently over the head with the butt of it. Every single frustration I'd felt with him over the last few months was surging through me. "Well, seeing as you're such a good detective, then why don't you go and solve this damn case by yourself!"

If anything was going to make L angry, it should have been that. Yet, infuriating me even further, he still seemed as annoyingly impassive as ever. All he said was one word, "Fine," before walking out.

I kicked the door shut after him. I placed the Browning safely on the dressing table, then flopped onto the bed. I didn't know if I wanted to cry, scream or throw up. I knew that I'd overreacted on an extreme scale this time, but there was no taking any of it back now.

I'd never quite had such a big issue with admitting I was wrong before. It was just that it was L who had proved me wrong. And that had made me act like a thoughtless, selfish little brat. I was physically disgusted with myself for letting the case take a back seat to my feelings. And even more so for then having too much damn pride to admit it.

I sighed. Just once, I'd like to not make such a mess of things.

**XXX**

I turned the pages of the book, not even seeing the words that were on it. Anything to keep me from watching the clock. I'd remained in my room since L had walked out. More recently, I'd heard more movement and talking downstairs. Nobody had come up here. I was guessing that L had told everyone we'd had a fight - my family knew better than to disturb me when I was in a bad mood.

When I'd been with Chet, we'd had a few arguments in the house, so at least it wouldn't appear too out of the ordinary. Every time that had happened, Chet had gone downstairs and chummied up to my family, whilst I'd sulked in my room. I wondered if L was doing the same thing. He couldn't really be described as 'chummy', but either way, he didn't come back.

I knew that I should have apologised by now, but how could I face him after I'd so royally screwed up? I needed some way to seriously redeem myself. That was why I'd been hiding out up here until it got dark.

Identifying the woman who was working at the store where the stolen credit card was used as the same one who'd been at Jin Tanaka's office building - and very probably as the one who'd tried to cook us alive - was the strongest lead we'd had on the whole case. Finally, I had a very concrete stepping stone on what to do next. I'd leave L to sulk downstairs and I'd get out and try to solve this whole thing myself. I _could_ be just as good as he was.

I flipped through another few pages of the book and found a candy wrapper stuffed between two of them. I was guessing it was L's makeshift bookmark. It was from one of the hard-boiled sweets that I'd bought him from the Nisa store the other day. Of course, there weren't any left now. He'd been popping them like pills from the moment I'd handed the bag over.

Urgh, I needed to not think about him right now. Case first, always case first. I may not have necessarily followed that so far, but I was damn well going to stick to it now. I slammed the book shut and finally allowed myself to look over at the clock as the lesser evil. It wasn't quite half past nine yet. Screw it. It was dark outside and the store would definitely be closed by now. If I waited any longer to act, then I'd surely go crazy in here.

I grabbed my iPhone, re-fitted my holster and pushed the window open. I didn't want L to know what I was up to - I wanted to prove that I could fix this myself. My first boyfriend Suzil had climbed up through this very window several times when we were dating, so I'd learnt how to climb down too for midnight rendezvous elsewhere. Compromise and all that.

I clambered out and shimmied down the side of the house, using the window sills and guttering for footholds, before silently dropping down the final several feet. I then headed straight for the Nisa store, power walking as quickly as I could without looking suspicious. As I'd suspected, the store was in darkness when I got there. The surrounding area was quiet - anyone out on a Friday night would likely be further up town, where there was more availability regarding night life. On an evening, this street turned into a ghost town. Perfect.

Now I just needed a way in. I scaled my way along the line of stores, looking for a way round to the back of the buildings. That same old rule again - getting in from the back was always easier than the front. Unless you were trying to break into a houseboat that hadn't reversed into port.

I'd been intending to see if I could force my way in through one of the windows, but the back storage entrance turned out to be open. Huh. Maybe that was how our identity thief and possible killer had managed to infiltrate their system - going by this, their security wasn't exactly the best. Of course, I knew better than to just accept that as gospel. For all I knew, the door could have been left open for a reason. I had to be on high alert at all times. Who knew what I could be walking into? Thankfully, I had the weight of the Browning against my hip as my own personal security.

I quietly and slowly let myself in. Everything was in darkness. Keeping my eyes and ears completely open - I'd even put my glasses back on this time, so L could suck it - I navigated my way through the storage area. What I wanted was the staff room. I needed more information on this cash register woman.

I easily found the room I was looking for. As I snuck inside, I noticed immediately that one of the drawers of the filing cabinet on the other side of the room was ajar, a thick folder wedging it open. Eh, it was one place to start. I moved across the room to pull out the folder. It was the personnel files - exactly what I was after.

I had a horribly foreboding feeling that somebody had already been here before me. It just seemed too good for my hunt to be so obviously laid out in front of me. For most detectives, the concept of coincidence barely existed. I was no exception. I felt like I was entering into a trap. Some people may have said that I'd watched too many movies, but believe me, in this line of work, paranoia was a common ally.

But that didn't mean I wasn't going to check it out. If something was just left there for me to find, then I was obviously going to look at it. I used the light from my iPhone screen to illuminate the file. I didn't dare to switch on the actual lights - partly because I didn't want to draw attention to myself if anybody else _was_ around and partly because there was a chance that the lights could be connected to the store's alarm system.

As I turned through the pages, I found myself looking at the familiar faces of several of the staff that we'd been observing over the last few days. Aoi Takagi, the mousy haired girl. Taiji Onara, the guy who always seemed to be checking his watch. Sai Otonashi, the elderly woman... _There_!

Saya Kurata. I felt my heart jolt with excitement. There was no mistaking her this time. That was the same bleach blonde hair and pretty features staring back at me. I was sure that it likely wasn't her real name, but at least we finally had something that we could work with. According to her employee file, she was only on a temporary contract for one day a week. Fridays, of course. And she'd started working here just over three weeks ago. Bingo.

I then realised with another stomach-turning moment that her name began with 'S'. The love notes that we'd found in Carter Burnham's notes. I felt something slide into place. Maybe _she_ was the girl he'd been having the affair with. If my hunch was correct, then she was definitely involved knee-deep in this...

Blinding white suddenly filled the room as the lights abruptly came on. I winced, shielding my eyes, though it was nothing compared to the twist of my gut. I turned wildly, expecting to see Saya in the doorway - that I really had walked into a trap - but instead, I found myself facing the young dark-haired guy, Taiji Onara. _Shit_.

I gaped like a goldfish, trying to think of some excuse for why I'd be in here so late at night. I had nothing. I hadn't expected to be caught by a member of staff other than the thief and killer that we'd been chasing - at least if that had been the case, then I could have maybe resorted to using force. But if I didn't come up with something quickly, then I'd be lucky if I didn't get arrested.

Yet apparently, I didn't have to worry about that. Taiji's eyes widened when he spotted the file in my hands. He took one more look at me, then suddenly turned tail and ran. What the hell? " _Hey_!"

I dropped the file onto the desk and took off after him. He had to be involved in this too somehow. Why else would he run? It wasn't like I was a threat. There was no other explanation for it. 

I chased Taiji down three whole blocks, endlessly grateful that there was nobody else about. It had been a while since I'd had to full-on sprint. I had to really push myself to keep up with him. I generally kept pretty active for the most part, but come on, his legs were a lot longer than mine.

He suddenly darted down one of the side roads - no bigger than an alleyway. On one side was a boarded up office block and on the other was my favourite old library. Not. The most important fact was that they were both empty. If I didn't want to be running all night, then now was my chance.

I followed Taiji onto the side road and whipped my gun out of the holster as I ran. He'd slowed slightly - either from exertion or the change of direction had confused him. This was it. "Freeze!" I shouted, as I slowed too, raising the gun with both hands.

It worked. Taiji grinded to a halt and slowly turned to face me, his hands raised. He looked uncertain, but he clearly wasn't dumb enough to try anything when faced with a gun. "You can't shoot me," he breathed uncertainly. "Cops can't shoot unless it's in self defence and I haven't done anything."

He thought I was a cop? Huh. Maybe I still had that air about me. And at least that meant I had an ace up my sleeve. I tried to breathe more evenly. Threats weren't so intimidating when you were out of breath. "Actually, I'm not a cop; I'm a detective. So unless you start talking, then I'm perfectly licensed to shoot you."

I was bluffing, of course. Whether you were a cop or not, _everyone_ was supposed to follow the rule of only shooting if it was in self defence. It wasn't just a rule; it was the law. But Taiji didn't know that I actually stuck by the law, so I could get away with using that to my advantage.

"Okay, okay," he said hastily, his hands raising even higher, eyes now fixed on the point of the Browning. He believed me. Good. Fear always made the interrogation part easier.

"Is your name Taiji Onara?"

"Yes."

"Is that your real name?"

"Yes...?" A mildly confused frown told me that Taiji wasn't as deep into this as Saya was - I was certain that she wouldn't be using her real name. She'd be stupid if she did. If there was one thing I knew from everything we'd learnt so far, it was that she definitely wasn't stupid.

I could feel more pieces of information sliding into place. Things were finally starting to make sense. After originally learning who Saya was, I'd pinned her as an accomplice of sorts to Jin Tanaka. But that was wrong. Saya was the real brains behind the operation. Jin had been the accomplice. And so had Shou. They were just pawns to throw away. Now Taiji was clearly next in line for the role.

"How long have you been working at the Nisa store?" I continued my quizzing.

"Erm, I worked there last summer vacation whilst I was still in college," said Taiji nervously. "Then I started back permanently in January."

So before the Kasagi killer had ever reared its ugly head. Taiji was definitely new blood on this. "What's your relationship with Saya Kurata?"

Taiji blanched at the mention of her name. "I don't really know her that well," he lied. "She hasn't been at the store that long and she only works Fridays..."

"You're lying," I cut across him. "I know that you've been seeing her outside of work." I actually didn't know that, but it was the next logical guess.

" _Okay_ , we've been seeing each other," Taiji admitted quickly, his eyes trained on the gun again. "But it's not what you think. I know I haven't known her that long, but there's something about her; she's just amazing. I could really fall for her..."

Oh, great. The poor kid clearly had no idea. At least I hoped he didn't. Otherwise, he'd be another accessory to murder. From the sounds of it, Carter Burnham, Shou _and_ Jin Tanaka had all had some kind of infatuation with this woman. It was a total There's Something About Mary kinda situation... Except in this case, Mary was a psychopathic bitch.

"So why did you come to the store tonight?" I questioned. Maybe this would give me some insight as to whether Saya knew if we'd recognised her earlier.

Taiji looked shifty. This was where he knew that what he was doing would get him into trouble. "She wanted me to get rid of our employee files. She told me to burn them. We were going to elope without telling our families..."

Oy vey. I really wanted to clonk this guy over the head like I'd done with L earlier on. He needed it. I couldn't believe how stupid he was. I went to make a scathing comment about his latest life choice, but something about his expression made me stop. He was chewing his bottom lip and still shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He wasn't looking at me - his gaze was directed more at my feet. All the knowledge from my psychology degree kicked in at full effect. He was hiding something. There was no doubt.

"What else?" I asked abruptly. That certainly caught his attention. He stared at me guiltily, eyes wide. "There's something else you aren't telling me. You were going to burn the files and then what? What else did she tell you? You're not going anywhere until you tell me."

His face paled noticeably. He knew I had him. His eyes drifted back to my boots as he said in a much quieter voice, "She said I had to help her get rid of some pesky detective. I didn't want to, but she said it was a test. I had to prove I loved her if we were going to run away together."

I frowned. I probably should have been concerned that he'd been sent to find, and most likely kill me - Saya must have known that I'd turn up tonight - but something just wasn't right. Taiji hadn't even known who I was. "But... you didn't know I was a detective. You thought I was a cop."

Taiji blinked several times, confused. "It wasn't supposed to be here. She told me to meet her somewhere else afterwards."

My frown deepened. Saya wouldn't have known where else I'd go after the store. "But if she wasn't talking about me, then who did she want you to..." I felt like the bottom of my stomach had suddenly dropped out. There was only one other person I could think of who they'd be talking about. "This detective," I said sharply. "Who are they?"

"I-I don't know," said Taiji. "Someone Saya found at the store about twenty minutes ago. I think it might have been a guy?"

Oh god... My heart seemed to turn over completely. That meant that L hadn't been sulking downstairs like I'd thought. He hadn't even been in the house. He must have taken my words to heart when I'd told him to go and solve the case himself. It looked like I wasn't the only one whose pride had been hurt from our argument.

If Saya had said that she needed help getting rid of L, then what had she done to him already? Oh god, oh god, this was all my fault. How could I have guessed that L would have actually done as I'd said for once?

"Where are they now?" I practically shouted at Taiji, my hands starting to shake.

He shifted awkwardly. "I can't... I'm not supposed to tell anyone that."

I could have screamed at him. I tried to steady my hands. "Tell me where they are or I swear to god, I'll shoot you!"

Taiji blanched again. I probably looked ready to do it. "Okay! It's an empty storage building, in the far district down past the junkyard. It used to be part of the old Sima warehouse - it has a number four on the front."

Holy crap, I knew where that was. It was right on the far end of town. _Shit_. It had to be at least ten blocks away. But then it was a good four or five back to the house. By the time I'd gone back, got my car and drove, I could probably have already made it there... Dammit!

I hesitated, feeling anguished. Though I didn't think he was actually that deeply involved, Taiji was still clearly a part of this whole mess. It went against my whole being to just leave him to it without making sure he was taken in by the appropriate forces, but I couldn't just wait here. If anything happened to L, I'd never forgive myself.

"Go straight to the police and turn yourself in," I told Taiji, talking quickly. "I get the feeling you haven't actually taken part in anything illegal just yet, so take my advice and go get yourself cleared before that happens. Oh, and one more thing... I hate to break it to you, but Saya's just screwing with you. This so-called 'test' to prove your love? She's had two other guys commit murders for her already. I'm guessing she used the same line on them."

Taiji gaped at me, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish. "It... was all a lie?"

I could see his world falling apart just from the look in his eyes. He wasn't a threat to me anymore. "Without a doubt," I said, stuffing the Browning back into its holster. Time was ticking. I didn't have time for this idiot. "So get out now and save yourself. If you don't, I'll know. I know your name and your place of work. And I'll find you if I have to."

I actually saw real fear on his face. Who knew I was that intimidating? He swallowed hard and, finally, he nodded. That was going to have to be good enough. I pushed past him and I ran. I ran harder than I ever had before, forcing myself to my absolute limit. My breath was coming in great, erratic bursts. My chest burned and my leg muscles screamed in protest. But I couldn't stop. I had to go faster. L's life could depend on it. There was no way I could fail now.

I blindly tried counting blocks as my feet pounded against the sidewalk, distantly grateful once again that there was nobody about. I passed one lone walker, but I felt that I was gone before he'd even looked up. I reached the far district of town and finally allowed myself to slow. I felt like my lungs surely couldn't work quick enough to draw in the breath that I needed. My heart was practically beating out of my chest. But I still wasn't done.

I looked around wildly, my eyes desperately seeking out the right building. Saya had really done her homework. Nobody ever came through this part of town - it was even more desolate than the Nisa store and its surrounding area had been. You could do anything here and nobody would ever hear you.

The thought alone made my heart thud even faster, if that was physically possible, so I hastily tried to dismiss it. I needed my wits about me right now. Number four, number four... Where were you, number four?

_There_. I spotted the large white number peeling from above the door of one of the smaller buildings. That was it. There was no more time to lose. The Browning came back out. I approached the door quickly, but quietly, simultaneously trying to get my breathing under control as well as making sure my footsteps were as silent as possible.

I hesitated just long enough outside the door to take several deep, as-calming-as-humanly-possible-in-the-current-situation breaths. I would have liked to have scoped the place out better first to establish the best point of entry and eliminate as many blind spots as I could, but I'd wasted too much time already getting here. If I had to go in guns blazing, then so be it.

I tested the door to make sure it wasn't locked, then pushed it open using my boot. I entered the room gun first. The first room was dimly lit, causing the industrial metal shelving units to cast creepy shadows about the walls. I kept the Browning raised, constantly checking around me as I moved slowly around the shelves.

It seemed to be empty. I moved onto the next room and carefully checked to the left first. Righties always checked left first. But before I could check everything was clear to the right, a voice suddenly broke the silence, sternly commanding, "Don't move. Now lower your weapon and turn around slowly."

Aw, crap. My stomach lurched sickeningly. Perps only ever gave you orders like that if they were armed too. I did as I was told, lowering the Browning to below waist level and cautiously turning around. Sure enough, Saya was facing me with a gun of her own, pointing it steadily at my head. It really wasn't an ideal situation to be in.

The one thing that did make it better was that I could see L standing a way behind her. To my utter relief, he seemed to be unharmed. Just his usual, bored-looking self. _Thank god_. Maybe I could commend my running skills on getting here in time after all. If we were lucky enough to make it out of this, then I was definitely going to start exercising more again.

"Put the gun on the floor and kick it to me," Saya ordered.

Again, I did as I was told - slowly, so as not to give reason for any sudden action on her part. I kicked the gun harder than I should have, hoping it would slide past her and that L would grab it instead, giving us the element of surprise that we sorely needed right now. No such luck. Saya stopped it with her foot and then kicked it away from all of us. I watched as it skidded across the floor, into the shadows and out of sight. Boo.

Saya's gun, however, was still trained on me. She motioned towards L. "Stand by him. And don't try anything."

It made sense. Keeping both of us in her sight. I was all for trying to make things harder for her, but I wasn't stupid enough to disobey someone who was armed and likely clinically insane on at least some level. I moved across to stand next to L, attempting to look as innocent and unthreatening as possible, though my brain was running at a thousand miles a minute, trying to come up with some obscure, unexpected escape plan. So far, I had nothing.

It wasn't helped either by the look on L's face. If I hadn't known any better - in spite of the intensity of the current situation - I'd have said that he was still annoyed with me. "What?" I couldn't help but protest defensively.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed back.

I gaped at him. You'd have thought he'd have been a bit more grateful that I'd tried to play hero for him. "Why do you think? I came here to save your ass!"

"And all you've succeeded in doing is getting yourself into this mess too," L pointed out.

I glared at him, completely forgetting where I was. "Well, if you hadn't snuck out of the house, then I wouldn't have had to come here at all."

"You were the one who told me to go and solve this case by myself."

"Yeah, because you pissed me off by being so high and mighty!"

"If you'd paid closer attention to things in the first place, then I wouldn't have needed to scold you."

" _Hey_!" I jumped at the sound of the other voice. Oh, yeah, crazy bitch with a gun. I'd almost forgotten that Saya was even there. "Stop talking, both of you!"

Our argument seemed to have worn her patience down somewhat - she looked more agitated than she had done a few moments ago. She probably didn't want us conversing whilst we were waiting, in case we managed to formulate a plan in code. But what exactly were we waiting for anyway?

_Of course_. The only reason Saya hadn't killed L before now was because she wanted Taiji to do it. It was his 'test', he'd said. But if Taiji did as I'd told him, then he wouldn't be turning up here at all. Once Saya realised that, she'd probably just kill us both herself. I needed a way to distract her for as long as possible. If I took care of that, then hopefully, that would give boy genius a chance to come up with some harebrained scheme to get us out of this mess.

Luckily, there was one flaw that seemed to apply to all criminals, big or small - they loved to gloat. They spent time and effort putting their plans into action, so they wanted to talk those plans through so that people would know just how clever they'd been. Some of them just needed a little coaxing into it.

"So is this the part where you gloat and talk us through how smoothly your plans went down?" I said daringly, fixing my gaze on Saya.

She looked almost amused, though her aim never wavered. "You're the detectives. Why don't you tell me?" Okay, so it was breakdown time. That was cool - breakdowns were good for stalling too.

"Well, from the beginning, you were never going to try and pull this off on your own," I said. "This whole thing was all about identity theft. And you wanted to steal from somebody who was dead - somebody who then wouldn't get in your way when you tried using their identity. But first, you needed an accomplice. One who'd be fairly easy to manipulate. So you used your looks and focused on enlisting male accomplices."

Saya smiled, but she didn't say anything, not letting on if I was right or wrong. People were always more eager to point out if you were wrong, than agree if you were right. 

"So you began an affair with Shou Tanaka. I don't know why you went for someone who was already in a relationship... Maybe you enjoy the challenge. Or maybe you needed a guy who already had close ties to someone else, so you could really test his worth. You then started seeing Carter Burnham at the same time. You exchanged torrid love notes with him and publicly acknowledged this relationship to Shou's face.

"Shou already had a history of jealousy. He got angry and murdered Carter to get him out of the way. Then there was his girlfriend, Elizabeth... She was the test, wasn't she? You may have goaded him about your other lover, but ultimately, Shou killed Carter on his own. Elizabeth was the real test. You encouraged Shou to kill his own girlfriend - you told him it would prove his love to you; that it was the only way for you to be together. You had to make sure he was completely loyal to you. That he'd do anything for you."

This was all just speculation on my part, based on the similar trial that Saya had tried to get Taiji to undertake - her pawns doing the work for her. But the funny thing about speculation was the more ideas you laid out in front of you, the more everything seemed to fit into place.

"But you pushed Shou too far. He did as you said, but he couldn't handle the guilt over what he'd done. He told his brother everything and, amazingly, Jin took it upon himself to help Shou out. He staged several more murders at random, so that all fingers wouldn't just point to Shou. Shou had no motive to kill Umehito Sashiro or the Hirano couple. Eliminating part of the pattern made it look like there was just a psycho on the loose, rather than Carter and Elizabeth being personally targeted.

"You already saw a lot of Jin, because you were still keeping ties with his brother. But you saw much more potential in him after he killed those people of his own accord, just to try and help his brother's alibi. Shou wasn't any use to you anymore - he was too overcome with guilt. It was obvious he wasn't going to kill anyone else, even for you."

As I was talking, more pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit together. It was like a scene playing inside my head. I could see it all through Shou's eyes, through Jin's eyes, and especially reflected in those alluring dark eyes that were staring back at me.

"So you focused your attentions on Jin instead. You started seeing him behind his brother's back. You did whatever you could to seduce him, to make him believe that killing was good -that it could benefit you both - furthering him into a much darker state of mind. Then, once you were sure you had him hooked like Shou had been, you gave him _his_ test. You convinced him to kill his own brother. You convinced him that Shou was a liability. He knew too much. He wasn't stable anymore. If he told anyone, then it would all be over. He was simply in the way... So Jin did as you asked.

"There might have been a few hiccups on the way, but now, you finally had your accomplice. Jin was much better suited to the task you had planned. With his quickly deteriorating state of mind, it was easy to convince him to murder Sunae Michishio and then bludgeon her until she was unrecognisable, leaving you with the perfect opportunity to take everything that you needed to steal her identity.

"But then we started getting too close. You didn't know who we were when we came to Jin's place of work that day and we didn't know that you were temporarily manning his office, upholding the pretence of him being on temporary leave. But when I told you he'd given us a key to his office, you knew straightaway that we were there to investigate. You were the mastermind behind this - Jin wouldn't have enlisted anyone else himself. All of his colleagues knew that he was supposedly working from home, so it couldn't be work related either.

"You had to act fast. You couldn't wait for Jin to get there and help you get rid of us, so you needed a way to do it yourself. You sent us into an office that you knew wasn't in use and then locked us in, setting the place on fire..."

I tried to ignore the shiver that shot down my spine at the memory, concentrating instead on the facts. After that particular incident, during my time of being in danger of getting thrown off the case, Gibson had looked into the matter of the fire further. Though I hadn't learnt this information until later on, he'd established that there had been no injuries to anyone else working at the offices on that day. That whole section of the building was full of empty offices that hadn't been used for a while, waiting on new renovations. Everyone else had escaped safely as soon as the fire alarms had started sounding.

"After the fire had been taken care of, you snuck back in to find that we'd still escaped. You found my library card, so you were able to discern the identity of at least one of us. From that, you found my address and then broke into my office. You didn't steal anything, because you didn't actually want anything from me. It was just a warning. You wanted to make an impact. You wanted me to know that you knew where to find me."

I closed my eyes briefly, clearing my throat. I didn't go into detail on that particular incident. That was another memory I'd rather forget; one that I'd locked even tighter away. But also just more of a reminder to me that if I was presented with even the slightest chance, then I was going to take this bitch down.

I glanced sideways at L, wondering how much of this he'd pieced together himself. Knowing him, probably all of it and more. He'd angled his face so that his hair covered his eyes again, obscuring what little emotion ever showed in his expression. I was close enough to see that his gaze was fixed on the open doorway behind Saya. I didn't know who he expected to be coming through that doorway to save us, but he was clearly onto something. It was better than anything I had anyway. My only plan was to keep stalling, keep talking...

"A week or so later, when you felt safer again, you had Jin kill and disfigure Mayu Ohba too, in the same way that he had before," I forced myself to carry on. "Why stop at stealing one identity when you still had Jin as a tool at your disposal? You were planning to use both of them, but first, you needed to test one to see how quickly and how well it would be traced if it was picked up on that the credit card of a dead person was still being used.

"By this point, Jin was really starting to lose it. You knew he was becoming a liability, just like Shou had. But it didn't matter, because you didn't need him anymore. You already had the stolen identities that you needed. Maybe you even convinced Jin to turn himself in yourself. Whatever you did, you made sure he wouldn't mention you in any part of his confession - he certainly stuck to that at least.

"You left Jin to it and you left Kyoto altogether. You needed somewhere to test one of the credit cards. Somewhere that was far enough away from the heart of the murders, but close enough so that you could still see where the investigation was leading if you wanted to. So you came here to Osaka and got a temporary job at the Nisa store.

"You used the credit card at your own place of work. Maybe you staged it yourself or maybe you pinned it onto an unsuspecting customer, swapping the card for theirs at the point of purchase. That would have been easy enough with you working the cash register. Either way, you still stuck around here to see what results it produced; if somebody from the investigation would turn up here in the hopes of finding something.

"And whilst you were here, you found Taiji Onara. He was probably enthralled by you the first time he saw you. You enlisted him like you did with Shou and Jin. Now you had a new pawn just in case you needed protection. In case you needed someone to kill for you again.

"When you saw us at the store, you knew that we recognised you, so again you had to act quickly. You didn't know where to find us here in Osaka, so you had to wait for us to come to you. You knew that we'd investigate deeper into the store's personnel after seeing that you were an employee. All you had to do was wait for us to turn up... Which brings us to here."

I realised a horrible second too late that it only explained how L had been brought to this place. It didn't explain how I'd known where to find him or what I knew of Taiji's involvement, since I hadn't mentioned running into him at the store when he'd turned up to destroy their files.

However, Saya didn't seem at all concerned about that. Maybe she expected me to have run into him and guessed that I'd given him the slip after getting him to give up her location. After all, I'd been armed and he hadn't. She'd probably have known that. She clearly had faith that he'd still show up to do her bidding.

"Very good," said Saya, still smiling that creepy, malicious smile. "I can see why they put you on this case."

"To be fair, I was never 'put' on this case. I kinda had to beg for it," I said with an attempt at a casual shrug.

Saya's expression didn't change. She kept her gaze fixed on me, unsure if I was joking or not. "Even so, there's one big mistake you made."

"And what's that?" I said dryly, playing along.

"You should never have come to find me," Saya replied dangerously. "You should have called the cops when you saw me at that store. But no, you had to do it all yourselves. You freelance guys are just so self-righteous."

"Y'know, that's a good point; we do like to do things ourselves," I agreed, ignoring the jibe behind it. "So tell me... Why didn't _you_ do anything yourself? Why find other people to do all the work for you?"

"Because she's a coward," L piped up before Saya could reply. I stared at him. It was the first time he'd spoken since Saya had commanded us to stop talking. And for his first input, it really wasn't the smartest thing to say.

Saya didn't seem to think so either. "I am no such thing," she spat.

"Actually, you are," L countered. "You cooked up this scheme that you found to be so brilliant, yet you were too scared to get blood on your own hands. You let other people take care of the dirty work so that you wouldn't have to worry about doing it yourself."

"Be quiet! You don't know anything about me," Saya snarled.

"Err, Ryuzaki, maybe you should try to be a little nicer to the woman with the gun," I pointed out nervously. I knew that I was the one who'd made the point in the first place, but I'd known where to stop. Even I wasn't stupid enough to outright insult an armed psychopath.

Though apparently, L was. And he clearly wasn't listening to me. "You have the mind of a murderer, but not the nerve. You haven't killed anyone yourself and you never will."

I could see the fury rising in Saya's face. Funnily, she didn't look as pretty as I'd first thought. Angry, she was actually quite ugly. She clenched her hands tighter around the gun, switching the aim from me to L. "Don't push me, boy. I'll prove you wrong; I swear I will..." 

I felt the panic build inside me with the movement of the gun. What the hell was L playing at? This wasn't the kind of woman he should be messing with. "Ryuzaki, stop it," I warned.

L continued to ignore me, focusing only on Saya. "Anyone could have done what you did. It didn't take brains, it didn't take guts... All it took was a sick mind and several men who saw you as nothing more than a pretty face. _They_ orchestrated all of this. You didn't do anything - they never needed you."

"They did! I planned everything; they could never have done it without me!" Saya practically shouted. "I was the brains behind this. I'm responsible for all of it!"

How L could remain so calm throughout all of this was beyond me. But he still didn't stop. "You've been nothing more than a trainer guiding her dogs. They did all the work and you just tried to take the credit."

" _No_! It was all me!" Saya argued, taking a step towards us, a vein throbbing in her temple.

My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. L was going to get himself killed if he didn't shut up. I laid a firm hand on his arm. "Stop it now or she'll shoot you!"

Saya didn't even notice me move. Her attention was attuned completely to L. She was seeing red; I could tell from her eyes. She was completely beyond reasoning with. If I didn't find a way to dissolve this situation quickly, then it was going to end very, very badly. I hastily cast my gaze around the room, desperately looking for something, _anything_ , that could help us. As I did, I saw a shadow pass over the open doorway that L had been concentrating on. Was it Taiji? Had he come here after all? That was the last thing we needed.

I tightened my grip on L's arm, silently pleading him to stop talking, but he didn't seem to notice. "She won't shoot me," he said calmly.

"I _will_ shoot. I swear I will, so don't test me!" Saya insisted, taking another step forwards.

I dug my fingers in so hard that my knuckles strained painfully. "L, please..." I whispered.

"If you were going to shoot me, then what have you been waiting for this whole time?" L pointed out loudly.

"I'm warning you; one more word and I'll shoot..."

"You won't. Because I'm right - you're nothing more than a coward," L concluded.

"I'll show you a coward!" Saya cried.

I saw her finger twitch against the trigger and in that moment, I knew she was going to shoot. In the split second I had to act, I did the only thing I could think of and threw myself in front of L.

People say that in critical moments, everything seems to happen in slow motion... It doesn't. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Pain exploded across my chest, slamming me back against L. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. My legs gave way as I collapsed into L's arms.

"Gee!"

" _Gee_!"

"Call an ambulance, quick!"

There were too many voices. All familiar voices. Apparently, dying sent you loopy. That was okay though. Just as long as I could escape the fire that was rapidly spreading through my torso... My vision started to blur. The last thing I saw was ebony and ivory - L's dark eyes and pallid face looking down at me - before I closed my eyes and succumbed to the darkness.


	20. A Being Without a Name

"Gee!"

"Open your eyes, Gee!"

The shouts kept coming, keeping me from fading. My chest still burned. Why couldn't they just let me die in peace? Wasn't taking a bullet enough on my part? Someone then shook me roughly. If I'd had the energy, I would have frowned. I was dying here - you'd think they'd be a bit more gentle with me.

But even as the thought passed through my mind, I realised that I was thinking past the pain. Actually, the more I thought about it, it didn't seem quite as painful as when the bullet had first hit. Was that normal? I didn't exactly get shot on a regular basis, so I wasn't sure. With my mind feeling miraculously clearer, I did what I was told and managed to open my eyes.

One of the ceiling lights was directly above me - it hurt my eyes and forced me to squint. Thankfully, most of it was blocked out by somebody's head. As I peered through half closed lids, I could make out dark eyes and even darker hair. Did that mean the arms currently holding me were L's? I definitely must have died. That would at least explain why the pain was lifting.

The words even made it out of my mouth. "I died," I said lamely.

"You didn't die," L corrected me.

"Then I'm dying."

"No. You're not dying."

I heard a laugh somewhere in the distance and frowned. "But I got shot..." Though even as I said it, I could feel the pain subsiding even more. It still hurt every time I took a breath, but it didn't feel like it was life threatening now. What was going on? 

"Yes. By a rubber bullet."

Now that certainly brought me to my senses. "Say what?"

"The bullet was made of rubber. You're going to be fine."

" _Rubber_? Oh, son of a..."

There was more laughter at my response. I blinked several times and succeeded in opening my eyes properly without squinting. I struggled to raise myself up out of L's arms - god, how embarrassing - and craned my head to see Kenichi and Chad standing towards a corner of the room, the latter not even bothering to conceal his amusement. Confusion at their presence was quickly quashed, as the movement sent pain searing through my chest again. Rubber bullet or not, it still friggin' hurt. I'd better have one hell of a bruise to show for it.

"You guys suck," I groaned, rubbing my chest gingerly. "What are you even doing here?"

"Duh. We're the cavalry," said Chad, like it was obvious. It wasn't. I was so lost.

"But I don't get... How did you..." My mind was so sluggish, it was difficult to choose which question to go with. Then one hit me that was much more important than any of the others, suddenly sharpening every one of my senses. "Saya! What happened to Saya?"

"We got her," said L, almost softly for him. I was still finding it a little embarrassing to look at him properly after how I'd woken up, but the answer filled me with relief. Finally. What we'd came here to do was finally done. Even if it didn't quite explain everything else.

I started trying to find my feet and L allowed me to help myself up, seeing I didn't want the assistance. Point to him. "How? How did you guys even know... well, any of this?"

Thankfully, Kenichi was prepared to be more helpful. "Ryuzaki spoke to Gibson earlier today and told him everything that the two of you had found out. He thought that back-up would be needed. We came here immediately."

"Here as in _here_ , here?" My brain was still kinda fuzzy. It was harder than usual to put two and two together. I couldn't figure out how they'd found their way to the warehouse. Even I'd only managed it with inside information.

"Here as in Osaka," Kenichi explained. "Ryuzaki explained about Saya's temporary job at the Nisa store, so we headed there first. We found the personnel file, which had been left out. When we rang up her name, we discovered records of a new building she'd recently purchased. The address brought us here."

The file that I'd carelessly dropped onto the desk after taking off after Taiji. The same file that had been left so obviously for me to find too. I couldn't see Saya having left it for me to find, not after she'd already had L by that point, so of course, that just left L himself. 

Finally, the pieces of the jigsaw inside my head were starting to fit together. L must have called Gibson after we'd had our fight and I'd committed myself to sulking in my room. In any other case, I'd be willing to bet that he would have then waited for the police to arrive and take matters into their hands. But as I'd already suspected from his daring move, I'd hurt his pride. I'd pushed him into taking action and trying to solve the case himself. He'd found the file that we'd needed to identify Saya and left it out for the police to find, knowing that they were on their way. He'd probably never expected me to follow to. Nor to be taken hostage by Saya. 

"When did Saya get to you?" This question I directed at L.

"At the store. She approached me with the gun," said L in his usual toneless manner, as calmly as if he'd been discussing the weather. "That, I hadn't planned for, but I still managed to leave the personnel file in an obvious position without her noticing before she forced me to leave. Once we arrived here, I'd deduced that her gun was a fake, so it was only a matter of stalling until Mr. Gibson and his team joined us."

"Were you so sure that we'd find our way to the next location too?" Now Chad was curious too. And probably also bothered by L's blasé tone. Or maybe that was just me that it always bothered.

"She told me that she'd purchased the building previously, so she knew that we wouldn't be interrupted by anybody else," L enlightened us. "I could tell that she was vain. The name she'd used for her employment at the Nisa store was likely the same one that she'd used with Carter Burnham, as she'd signed her notes with the letter 'S'. I figured she would have used the same name when purchasing this warehouse, meaning the police would be able to track it down easily."

"Wow. For an identity thief, she really isn't that smart," I commented. Such a big plan foiled by one little thing.

"She isn't. She believed she was and that was her downfall." Cryptic, but true.

"Like the gun," I added. "She couldn't have known that you'd guessed it wasn't real. By shooting it, and proving that it didn't contain real bullets, she gave up her only edge."

"Yeah, I'm still not sure why she would have done that," said Chad. "That really _is_ stupid."

But I felt I had the answer to that one. I looked back to L. "You hurt her pride. Your goading forced her into using it. Either you made her so mad that she simply wasn't thinking straight or she used it as her last resort to try and save face." Pride really was a funny thing. It had gotten all of us into trouble tonight - both good and bad guys.

L gave me a brief nod. "By that point, she'd given us her entire plan and had no method of really hurting us in order to keep us silent. She didn't know the police had already arrived, so my guess is that she was planning to shoot and then run."

So stupid. All of that planning, all of that time, all of those deaths... Just wasted on one moment of pride and panic. Well, at least it had been a good thing for us. I might have been just a teeny bit more satisfied about the whole ordeal if my chest hadn't hurt so much. It was a little bit distracting. Just thinking about it made me feel the need to cough, which then promptly turned into a coughing fit. Okay, maybe it was a lot distracting.

"Maybe we should get you to a hospital," Kenichi suggested when I managed to compose myself. I didn't usually witness concern from him. Maybe I should have relished in it.

"It's already been pointed out that the bullet that hit me was made of rubber and therefore not harmful," I grumbled, clearing my throat, which sent another painful pang through my chest.

"I didn't say not harmful," Chad pointed out. Great, now he sounded concerned too. If L joined in, then I was going to rethink my having died theory. "Rubber or not, you were still hit at close range and in the chest too. It can't hurt to get it checked out."

"It can if they start poking at me," I complained, rubbing my chest. 

"Now you're just being a baby."

"Erm, excuse me, I seem to remember somebody practically weeping when they were rushed to the hospital after getting shot," I reminded him.

"I got shot in the _ass_. You tell me you'd prefer that."

"Okay, point..."

In the end, I agreed to go to the hospital after being assured that Saya had been safely contained and that Gibson was outside, helping some of Osaka's own police officers to put her into a cruiser and send her off to the police station. It all felt a bit anti-climactic really. In the end, the criminal mastermind behind everything hadn't even been man enough (or rather woman enough) to use a real gun. But then I guess you could never really predict what was going to happen when there were crazy people involved. I still had more answers I needed to put the complete puzzle together, but I apparently wasn't going to get those right now.

The doctor took scans of my chest and tested some reflexes, blood pressure, the usual kind of stuff. Nothing had shown up on the scans. I was told I was going to get the hell of a bruise that I'd wanted, but most likely, nothing more than that. The doctor still insisted I stay in overnight and that he hooked me up to a heart monitor for my stay. Just in case. As the bullet had hit so close to my heart, and at such close range, he wanted to be sure that there weren't going to be any lasting effects from that. I got that the heart is a pretty important part of the body and I liked my body to be working, so for once, I wasn't a baby about it and I agreed to the whole thing with no complaints. Okay, maybe I complained a little, but we know how I like to be difficult about these things.

The cops flitted in and out to see how I was to start with, until one of the nurses kicked them out with a firm reminder that visiting hours were long over. It looked like I'd have to wait until morning to get those answers I wanted. I didn't know what had happened to L - I hadn't seen him since leaving the warehouse. My body was threatening to freak out, due to the possibility looming that now that the case was over, he might just disappear. Thanks to the meds the doc gave me to help with the pain, I never quite got to that point. They were clearly designed to help me sleep too, because without even realising it, I was suddenly out like a log. I didn't dream or even move until I woke up the following morning.

I felt groggy still from the after-effects of the pills and they'd left a horrible taste in my mouth. I had no drink on hand and had to use the little call button next to my bed to summon a nurse. It was a different nurse to the one I'd had last night. She was a lot older, deep creases in her skin giving her a Grandmother Willow type look - yes, I like Disney as well as everything else - but much more friendly. I'd only been expecting water, but she brought me a fancy lemon iced tea from one of the vending machines. I'd actually never had iced tea before. It was so delicious that I guzzled the entire thing within seconds. She happily brought me another. Maybe hospitals weren't as bad as I remembered.

The need for answers was back on my mind. My chest was starting to ache again, with the meds from last night having worn off, so the nurse convinced me to chow down on a couple of pieces of toast - dry, just how I liked it - so that I could take some more pills. I did so without any complaint this time, knowing that cooperating would be more likely to get me what I wanted. What I wanted now was to speak to Gibson and see if he'd learnt any more from Saya that I hadn't been able to affirm last night. I'd been intending to ask the nurse if I'd be allowed to make a phone call - or if someone could make it for me; I wasn't too fussed which - but she beat me to the punch when she came to collect my empty plate, by announcing that I had my first visitor of the morning. I just didn't expect it to be L.

As much as I hated to admit it, all thoughts about the case instantly left my mind. Instead, what jumped to the front of it was the main worry I'd been developing last night: the case was over. L had no reason to stick around anymore. He'd came back once before when I thought he'd left for real, but that was with plenty of loose ends still left lying around. Now, the case was over for good. I knew it wouldn't be the same this time.

I'd been so expectant of my first visitor being Gibson that I almost said, "What are you doing here?" Of course, that would have been stupid. However, what did come out of my mouth was still a very unintelligent sounding, "Um, hi." Come on, brain; I thought we were past this. We're supposed to be on the same side here.

He had his usual blank face on, but he did ask, "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," I admitted truthfully. "But I've been worse too."

"Mr. Gibson said that the doctors are hoping to dismiss you later today," he said.

I nodded. "That's the plan."

"That was a very stupid thing you did last night."

I winced. I knew this had been coming. "The diving in front of you part or the following you to the warehouse part?"

"Both."

"In my defence, I had no idea what you were planning for either of those things," I pointed out stubbornly. "Otherwise I would have let you take that rubber bullet for yourself."

I'd been expecting another retort, so I was even more surprised when he said, "Thank you." When I did nothing more than blink at him in surprise like a total idiot, he added, "I never intended for you to get hurt. I'd noticed Mr. Gibson and his team pass by the doors, so I'd goaded her to prompt her into confessing, as well as giving up her last edge by showing that her gun was fake. I never expected you to jump in the way. At the time, you even thought the gun was real and yet you still made that sacrifice for me."

To my horror, I could feel myself getting flustered and my face going hot. I hastily mumbled, "It was nothing. Cop instincts." In order to change the subject, I quickly asked, "So what else did you find out from Saya?" I knew that they would have questioned her after taking her to the police station last night.

"As Mr. Gibson was the one who questioned her personally, I'll allow him to tell you the finer details," said L. "He should actually be by very shortly. I just wanted to see how you were doing and tell you that it has been somewhat unusual, but still a pleasure working with you."

My stomach turned. This was it. This was his goodbye. And it wasn't going to be heartfelt in the slightest - it was going to be exactly like the last time I'd thought he was leaving. Only it was for real this time. If I didn't say something, then it'd be just another case over for him and he'd leave without a trace.

So I did something that was simultaneously very brave and very foolish. Or maybe it was just the last one. "Stay with me," I blurted out.

L stared at me, taken aback. "I'm sorry?"

Dammit, I couldn't back out now. This was probably going to be my only chance to stop him from walking out of my life forever. "Stay here. In Kyoto," I insisted, throwing caution to the wind. "Come on, we've worked so well together... Think of what we could do as a team!"

For the second time since I'd known him, L looked completely stunned. I knew he wasn't exactly the best judge of human emotion, but had he really _not_ expected me to not want him to leave? It felt like the longest moment of my life as I waited for him to answer. And, unsurprisingly, I still didn't get the one I wanted.

"I'm sorry, Gee," he said slowly, almost carefully. "I don't think that would be the best idea."

"Why not?" I protested. I knew that I sounded needy, but hey, I was an invalid here. Plus I had a horrible feeling that if I let him walk out that door, then I'd never see him again.

"Because I always work alone." 

Great, now he was getting all Lone Ranger on me. "Come on, I _know_ you're way better than me, but that doesn't mean you can't use help every now and then. Even Sherlock Holmes had Watson." 

I knew that Sherlock wasn't really the best example to use on L, but it was the most situation-appropriate one I could think of right now. Plus he should just be grateful that I was putting myself in _Watson's_ shoes. I'd never have thought I'd see the day.

He didn't look like he thought much of the reference either. "You're not sidekick material, Gee."

"Oh, thanks," I huffed. I wasn't that bad, was I? I couldn't even be the annoying sidekick that generally provided more comic relief than actual help? 

"You misunderstand me," said L. "When I say I _always_ work alone, I mean just that. This case has been the first time that I've done things differently."

I didn't get it. I'd read about plenty of cases that L had solved in the past before I'd even met him. He'd worked with other people before. On multiple occasions even. "But you have worked with other people before now," I said, voicing my thoughts aloud. "On the Los Angeles BB murder case, you even had a special forces unit working with you."

"No, they were working under me," L corrected. "Not beside me, like you have."

"And Gibson and the others," I pointed out.

"Again, no. It still wasn't the same with them." When I gave him a questioning look, he continued, " _You_ were the one who was right beside me the entire time. You forced me to be more hands on with the case, as well as a lot of other things I would never have dreamt of doing before. It's been quite the experience for me."

"Then I don't get it," I confessed, confused. If he saw me doing all of that as a good thing, then wouldn't that just be more reason for him to accept my offer? Or was I really just kidding myself? 

L just gave me a ghost of a smile in response. "You don't have to get it. Just know that, if anything, you would be Sherlock and not Watson. Watson is far too dull of a character. And you are definitely no sidekick."

I wasn't sure I could quite process what I'd just heard. Even if I bypassed the fact that he'd just happily worked with my reference - something that did not happen often, even with anyone other than L - I didn't think I'd ever been so flattered in my entire life. "Wait, does that mean that you... Are you telling me you see me as an _equal_?"

"This case has been somewhat... difficult for me," L admitted. "It's very different to how I usually operate. I still prefer to work alone. I'm not sure that will ever change. But the experience may still open up other doors for me... And I'm sure that we'll find ourselves working together again in the future."

I found myself at a loss for words. He'd managed to avoid answering my question, which wasn't exactly new, but that only gave me more confirmation that he really did see me as an equal. The infamous L, the greatest detective in the world. He thought I was Sherlock. Could I get any higher praise than that? Maybe Eraldo Coil and Deneuve could suck it after all.

And, miraculously even better than that compliment, he'd pretty much guaranteed that we'd see each other again. This wasn't a goodbye. There was still hope. I had the distinct feeling that I was suddenly floating.

"I'd like that," I smiled genuinely. Truer words had never been said.

L nodded. He suddenly had that mildly shifty quality that suggested he was uncomfortable. "I just have one more thing that I have to go and do..."

"Alright," I agreed, far more cooperative than I'd felt about letting him leave only a few minutes ago. "I'll be here."

He nodded again and then he was gone. I was more than happy to just sit in my bed and wait for him to come back. I tried not to let my mind wander through ideas of what he might have gone to do, though a thrillingly hopeful feeling that he might have gone to get me some flowers or maybe chocolates kept popping back up. Eventually, I gave up on trying to quash the idea and just let myself be happy and daydream for once. This had gone a lot differently to how I'd thought - it wasn't going to be goodbye forever, like I'd expected.

Gibson came by before L returned. "Hey, soldier," he greeted with a smile. "How's it going?"

"Not so bad actually," I responded truthfully. "I hear you questioned Saya last night. Anything new you can tell me?"

Gibson sank into the chair next to my bed, which L had avoided. "We overheard a small chunk of you breaking it down for her last night, but she confirmed all of that again. She also told us she'd been _expecting_ someone to follow her to Osaka after she'd used Sunae Michishio's card there. She'd wanted to test how far we'd go into chasing her down. She needed an idea of the leeway she'd have to be able to escape permanently with the two identities she'd stolen. Both her and Taiji had been keeping a close eye on the store for anyone suspicious who could be there to investigate. Saya had been staying hidden in Taiji's apartment. Turns out he lives in one of the apartments just above the Tsumi deli."

I knew the Tsumi deli well. It was right next door to the coffee shop that L and I had been investigating from. Saya would have been able to watch the Nisa store at all times, no problem. She'd been right there the whole time. So close and we'd had no idea.

"She admitted to buying the warehouse as a back-up plan," Gibson continued. "In case she needed a place to lure anyone in order to kill them. Or to temporarily hide any bodies Taiji might have helped her to accumulate. The building had been marked as unsafe, due to incomplete renovations, so it was illegal to sell it. Because of that, Saya didn't think her name would appear on any documents, so she used her real one. Probably partly out of vanity, like Ryuzaki said last night. Clearly a bad move. We still have reports to monitors things like that and one of them came right back to us."

That really was how they'd managed to find us at the warehouse last night. Because she'd been stupid enough to use her real name. It still all seemed so ridiculous. The whole thing had been such a grand master plan, involving murder, identity theft, arson, kidnap... Yet she'd ruined everything for herself with just a few small mistakes. I could definitely have taught her a thing or two about detail.

"So that's that," I concluded.

"That's that," Gibson agreed.

It was always an oddly mixed feeling when you closed a case. Obviously, there was a great deal of satisfaction involved. Satisfaction to tie up all of those loose ends, to have every piece of the jigsaw fall together and finally show that whole picture, and of course, that satisfaction of serving justice to everyone involved. But it also left a rather empty feeling too. I loved my job more than anything. I was happiest when I was working. This technically meant that I was currently out of work again. Hopefully, I wouldn't have such a dry patch this time. And at least I now had a promise for the future to look forward to as well. I was really hoping that it would be sooner rather than later. And that L would still keep in touch in the meantime.

"I don't suppose you've seen L, have you?" I asked, trying to sound casual about it.

Gibson frowned. "What do you mean? He and Watari have left. I saw him on his way out when I came by - he said he'd already said goodbye to you."

I felt like the bottom had just dropped out of my stomach. It was suddenly so painfully obvious, I could have kicked myself. L had lied to me. He was gone. He'd never meant to come back at all. He'd clearly just wanted to avoid the whole awkward goodbye scene and had made his excuse to escape. 

Was that curt nod really all I was going to get? I guessed I shouldn't have been surprised - it certainly wasn't the first time he'd lied. I was willing to bet he'd lied about working together again too. He'd gone for good and I'd been sat here like a fool without even realising.

Yeah. I shouldn't have been surprised at all. That was just typical L. Yet I still couldn't stop myself from gaping at Gibson in pain and shock. It was hard not to when it felt like my world had just crumbled around me in one moment of realisation.

He could see it too. "He didn't tell you goodbye at all, did he?" he said gently. I managed to shake my head, feeling too numb to speak. He gave me a sympathetic look and clasped my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Gee."

He didn't ask me anything about my real feelings for L. He clearly didn't need to. He didn't seem surprised either. Maybe he'd known all along... I didn't really care.

He wasn't the only one. My mom came by before I was discharged. She was not happy. She'd been concerned when I'd disappeared last night and hadn't returned, but I wasn't sure who had told her where I actually was. Probably L. He'd been doing a lot of things behind my back. Because most nights don't usually wind up with you being in the hospital, I had to tell her everything. She was angry and upset that I'd lied to her about L and my reason for visiting, even though it was my job and I often had to lie because of it - unlike L, who had lied just to get out of doing something uncomfortable.

I only managed to mollify her by explaining that the lie had been purely to protect her and the rest of my family. When it was put into perspective for you, the 'less you know' motive always made sense, even if you didn't necessarily like it. I think it helped my case that I was still clearly really upset about L. When she'd asked what had happened to him, I told her that he'd already left. I think she knew that was what was bugging me and that I hadn't necessarily lied to her about everything. I promised to make a real visit much sooner, but that I needed to go home first because I had some things to take care of.

She waited until I was discharged. She took me home so that I could collect my car and my other things and say goodbye to the others, as well as apologise once again to everyone for lying. She'd wasted no time in telling them what had really happened, meaning I was reprimanded twice more. It had surprised me coming from Auntie Maggie. She hadn't exactly been a saint when she was my age. Actually, she still wasn't a saint now.

After going through the motions with everyone, I drove straight back to Kyoto. I didn't want to spend any more time in Osaka right now. I messaged Gibson to let him know that I was out of the hospital and coming back, who informed me that he and the others had already headed back to the station in Kyoto. Saya was being kept at the police station in Osaka for now, whilst they decided whether it was worth moving her or leaving her where she was.

Part of me just wanted to go home and curl up in bed, whereas another part of me wanted to do anything but go back to an empty apartment. The latter part of me won out, mostly because there were still some loose ends I wanted to tie up before I put this case to rest for good.

The first thing I did was visit Melissa Burnham and tell her everything that had happened with the case. She cried. I cried. She ended up being the one to make the tea. I wasn't normally so empathetic - it clearly didn't help that I'd already been feeling sorry for myself. I left feeling worse than when I'd got there, but hopefully, she'd finally be able to get the closure she needed.

After that, I went to the police station to talk to Jin, under the supervision of Chad, who was now on duty again. Since I was back to being a civvie, I couldn't just go in and out of the prison block as I pleased anymore. I didn't have any real reason for wanting to talk to Jin, other than needing somebody to take my frustration out on. Which I did. Chad allowed me five minutes of screaming at Jin for all of the innocent lives he'd taken - particularly the ones who had been done for no comprehensible reason, other than to cover his tracks - before having to drag me back outside. He still found time to add to Jin that he was a fucking psychopath on the way out. Apparently he got a warning from Gibson over that for not being professional, but I couldn't see anyone really taking it seriously.

By this point, it was starting to get dark. I would have liked to have visited Johnny to try and drag my time out even longer, but I knew he'd soon be starting one of his bartending shifts. I had no choice now, but to go home. I parked up out front and let myself in through the still boarded up door. I really needed to get that fixed if I wanted to forget all of the ramifications from this case.

Normally, when I finished a case, I'd type up all of the remaining facts to conclude it and then keep the entire file on record. No way was I doing that tonight. I went upstairs, grabbed an energy drink, put a Psych DVD on in my room and snuggled up in bed amongst all my wolves. I wasn't taking any chances. Full comfort mode was on. I wasn't giving myself the chance to be left alone with my thoughts.

I'd barely finished an episode when I heard the doorbell ring downstairs. A tiny part of me perked up, before I hastily quashed it. This wouldn't be like last time. Plus it certainly wouldn't be L if I'd heard the doorbell. I climbed out of bed and went back downstairs, somewhat curious. Who would be visiting at this hour?

All naive hopes that I'd still be wrong and that it _would_ be L vanished when I saw Sophia's cheerful face. "Kalispera, Miss Georgia. I saw your car outside - I've been waiting for you to get back."

It was only then that I noticed she was carrying a rather raggedy looking cardboard box. Crude holes had been punched through the sides of it. "What is that?"

"A present for you," she said, looking oddly smug.

"A present?" I repeated, feeling bewildered. She handed the box to me and it gave a sudden shake. I shot her an alarmed look. "What _is_ it?"

Sophia laughed at me. "Why don't you just open it? But be careful. Maybe put it down first."

Now thoroughly lost, I obligingly let Sophia inside and set the box down on the desk in my office. I unfolded the top and half gasped when I saw a tiny, ruffled-looking grey kitten huddled up inside, peering up at me through unbelievably green eyes. "Oh my god, Sophia! You got me a new cat?"

"Not me," said Sophia, still with that smug look on her face. "Though I did agree to play cat-sitter whenever you're too busy with work." When I just looked at her questioningly, she added, "Your boyfriend asked me to give him to you."

"Boyfriend?" I repeated sharply, feeling my heart lurch. Sophia referred to pretty much every man I knew as my boyfriend, but those hopeful feelings were suddenly starting to surge again.

"That scruffy one we had cake with," Sophia replied offhandedly.

It was a good thing I'd put the box down. I probably would have dropped the poor kitten on the floor. "Ryuzaki? Sophia, when was this?" I asked quickly.

"Oh, a few hours ago."

A few hours. That likely meant he was long gone by now. Yet he'd still taken the time to do this first. But _why_? He couldn't say goodbye, but he could still find the time to get me a _cat_? I found myself speechless for the second time that day. I just didn't know what to think. Was this his real goodbye? Getting me a new furry friend to fill the void that Kyo had left behind was actually amazingly thoughtful and sweet for L, but it still wasn't the same as having _him_.

"I almost forgot. He left this too." Sophia pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. It was slightly torn at one corner. "I promise I didn't read it, but I had to take it out before the little monster could kill it."

The kitten clawed at the side of the box at confirmation. I barely even noticed. I was too busy staring at the letter. She held it out to me and I took it with trembling hands. I was wrong. _This_ was going to be the goodbye. I felt almost too terrified to read it.

It must have been clear on my face, because Sophia read my mood in an instant. "Anyway, I'm going back to my soap opera. Let me know if I'm needed for babysitting duties. And watch yourself; that terror has a set of claws on him."

"Thanks, Sophia," I managed to get out before she left.

Once she'd gone, I sank into the chair at my desk and finally forced myself to unfold the piece of paper. The note inside was only short. 

' _Can you love a being without a name? Luckily, this one is called Tama, so you can reserve judgement on that for now. I know that you know this isn't the last time we'll be seeing each other, but I'm still sorry._ '

I stared at the paper for a long time, still shaking. I really didn't know what to think about the first, cryptic part of the message, but now I knew that the little kitty had a name and, more importantly, that I _would_ still see L again. Though I didn't know when it would be fulfilled, he was still keeping his promise. Even if the sneaky bastard had managed to get out of saying goodbye. At least I knew now that it wouldn't be for good.

I looked down at the note again and found myself laughing. ' _I know that you know..._ ' He'd almost managed to unintentionally nail a Psych reference too. Trust L to go and mess that up. One word less and he would have got it perfect. But then maybe I didn't actually want perfect. L certainly wasn't perfect and neither was I. Maybe that was what love really was. Not caring that somebody wasn't perfect and loving them all the same.

I reached into the box and fondly scratched the tiny kitten behind the ears. He purred for all of two seconds before deciding to repay me by biting my finger. I yelped and hastily withdrew my hand. His teeth were as sharp as his claws supposedly were. Whatever the hell love was - even after all of this - it was still something I _really_ didn't understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note!
> 
> Hey guys, did you miss me? I should probably start this with my usual apology for the long delay between updates, particularly as this one was much longer than all of the others. But in my defence, I've been very busy during that time - I've travelled a lot and I even wrote my first entire, original novel (hopefully to be published later this year!) Yet I think an even bigger part of my absence has purely been because part of me just didn't want to write this chapter.
> 
> It feels so weird to tie the story up now, especially after it's going for a few years. This is the first time I've completed a full-length fanfiction (not included the god awful stuff I wrote as a teenie) and this has certainly been my most liked one by far, so I really hope I don't let you guys down. I started this story purely for me, like I do with any of my stories, yet I got the most endlessly flattering response from all of you readers for it. I can honestly never put into words how much that support has meant to me. You guys are what has kept me writing all this time and also what has made me feel confident enough to finally pursue writing as an actual career (will have to let you know how that one turns out!)
> 
> Because that's where the priority of my writing now lies, it means my fanfiction updates will always be hazy and inconsistent, but I still intend to continue all of my stories until the moment I say otherwise, no matter how slow-going it might be. And I'm certainly not finished with Gee and L by a long shot. I have many plans for the sequel, even if I can't promise how soon I can get round to starting it, but I can tell you this much: it'll be called "Clueless" and I really hope you'll all be watching out for it.
> 
> Thank you so much for sticking with me through all of this. This story may have been simply the love child of my favourite hobby, but you guys have made it into an even more enjoyable journey for me. You rock my world.


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